A Doctor Regrets Telling a Patient He is Dying

In  ‘You’re Dying,’ I Told My Patient. I Wish I Hadn’t. Dr. Daniela J. Lamas writes:

In most contexts, it is a doctor’s responsibility to tell our patients the truth, to help them to understand even the most devastating realities. But when I think about that night, I know that I added to my patient’s pain in the last hours of his life. I wish that I had done it differently. I could have paused and told him that yes, he was going to go home. I could have simply been there with him and said nothing at all. That small kindness might have done more for him than the truth.