Should I Assume the Crash Position Now, Doc?
What do you say when a cancer patient wants to know the details not just of the treatment being given now, but of any and all possible future treatments of a different nature (e.g., radiation therapy)?
Notice I said “possible” treatments. This implies that the patient may or may not receive a certain anti-cancer therapy in the future, depending upon the clincal course. Some patients, however, insist upon hearing about every conceivable counterattack available should the cancer not respond to primary therapy. This is called (not surprisingly) speculation, and woe to the doctor who gives in to the temptation to play this game. The only guaranteed result from trying to guess what will happen to a patient is that the patient will suffer unnecessary distress.
So don’t speculate about someones’ life - it’s not fair to put them through such agonizing rumination over things that may never come to pass. Rather, say this the next time a patient asks about what will happen if such-and-such occurs:
“Don’t worry so much about the flight plan. We don’t know where this plane is headed, but just make sure that your pilot knows how to land safely, wherever that may be.”
AIN’T GOT NO INTERNET AT HOME UPDATE: Yesterday, after the twelfth consecutive day without internet access I made what I believe was the 24th phone call to the cable company. This time the call was quite brief, and when the voice on the other end of the line asked me why I was cancelling my installation appointment [scheduled for December 25th, 2017] I replied as follows:
