It is with a good deal of trepidation that I start any new medication in my patients who are very old, for fear of disrupting the myriad forces of genetics and environment that have allowed them to live so long.
We cling to numbers because there’s so little we really can control in cancer.
People make sacrifices for each other when it comes to health, just as they do with family and careers. When both partners develop cancer, it is no exception.
People make sacrifices for each other when it comes to health, just as they do with family and careers. When both partners develop cancer, it is no exception.
Before I knew it I was getting the V.I.P. treatment: given a private room, sent for a lot of tests, strapped to a cardiac monitor overnight and visited by several consultants and the hospital president.
An oncologist realizes his training in treating cancer has given him only limited insight into how the disease impacts his patients’ lives.
I suspect that family members sometimes send doctors letters because they aren’t sure they had done everything they could to help prevent a loved one’s death.
I suspect that family members sometimes send doctors letters because they aren’t sure they had done everything they could to help prevent a loved one’s death.
A critical component to true health care reform is in changing our core expectations about the use of heroic measures at the end of life.
In the end, aren’t most of our major life decisions based simply on trust?