They really don't know

A few weeks ago I blogged that its really just A Bunch of Numbers on how doctors just give us numbers and that's all they are when we hear statistics about survival, prognosis, age or whatever from our doctors. Now a doctor says the same thing in this article, A Doctor's Struggle with Numbers."Oncologists are notoriously bad at predicting survival, and none of us wants to be known as “the doctor who told me I would be dead by now,” the doctor who made a prediction of imminent demise, sending a family into a terrifying tailspin of goodbyes, only to be proven wrong and subsequently mocked for years to come. One of my patients, upon being told by another doctor that she had two months to live, held Christmas in April so she could spend one last holiday with her grandchildren. She survived to see two more Christmases.At the same time, we need to be truthful and give guidance to people who want time to prepare, time to write wills and pay off debts, to say goodbyes and to leave instructions, to tie up the loose ends of a life now heavy with meaning.We try to provide hope, but not false hope.So we give ranges, starting with the best estimate of survival, because my patients have told me they shut down after they hear the worst estimate. We talk about setting goals, about maximizing quality of life, because we don’t have much leverage with quantity of life. We emphasize spending as much time as possible with family and friends, and as little time as possible wi...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer Tags: oncologist honesty doctor questions communication Source Type: blogs