Latest Gawande

[deleted4401]

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As usual, it's excellent ...

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all

Day one as a practicing rad-onc is over!

-S

 

[wholeheartedly]

Good read. thanks for posting.

 

[hippiedoc13]

As usual, it's excellent ...

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all

👍

Outstanding as always, thanks for sharing.

 

[medgator]

finally got around to reading it. A bit long of a read, but great article nonetheless. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RadGoat]

Wow, excellent article.

Just wondering, does anyone here think it's their responsibility to address death and dying with their patients? It seems most attendings I have worked with sidestep the issue. Radoncs are generally very good at knowing what treatments to offer and recommend, and are generally very sensitive to the feelings of their patients, but I have never seen a direct discussion initiated by a Radonc addressing a patient's wishes regarding dying. They have generally steered conversations towards the benefits that treatment can offer.

Admittedly, my experience is extremely limited (the equivalent of four months of med school rotations). Does anyone have a different experience?

 

[deleted4401]

I agree - most rad oncs do side step it. In fact, I can't think of one experience during residency where an attending spent the time to discuss death/dying in a meaningful sort of way, other than just confirming that hospice is a good idea. I'm not sure how I'm going to address it in practice.
-S