By Marilyn Broomer
Empathy and Cancer Survival Treatments
I have heard it told by some patients or by their surviving loved ones, that when a cancer patient is being treated in the hospital, there is a definite problem with Empathy! And in many cases it is when the cancer patient has had to be seen by many Doctors for various treatments over a period of a year or so. Some loved ones, now left behind, feel that their Mother, Wife, Husband, Children, etc. were somewhat more abused by the system and the Doctors and Surgeons. Is this right? Should there be a more human side to a Doctor, Specialist or Surgeon rather than the clinical side we see so often?
Should these Doctors and Specialists also Hospital Staff have to be educated on Empathy or is it left out of their curriculum?A lot of questions here that need a response. Don't Doctors and Hospital Staff realize that Empathy can serve a patient even if it gives them a more positive outlook on their state of health at any time through their course of treatments. Non existent empathy on the part of a Doctor or Health Care Provider only causes negative feelings as a fundamental cause of illness.
Don't get me wrong now, there are excellent Doctors and Health Care Providers out there, and when the patient feels the Doctor or Provider is totally interested in their recovery, this creates an atmosphere of good positive feelings for both the patient and their loved ones. This is really what I am speaking about! Humans need this...it is like nurturing a patient back to health even in the case of a patient perhaps having a more terminal state of illness. So could this not be taught alongside of all their other studies, because there are some great Doctors out there, but they do not have what is called proper "bedside manners" which is so important to the well being of patients.
A case in point...After a man I read about who had a very sick wife with cancer, which was found because she had succumbed to jaundice, rushed to his Doctor, who immediately requested the proper tests. At that time they just stated it was bacterial or viral in nature. 2 months later they decided to do an MRI with dye - and it then was suggested that she had bile duct cancer. Following surgery a couple of months later he was informed that they removed pancreatic tumor but that it destroyed the bile duct, and that she was a candidate for chemo, but following 6 months of chemo it was immediately stopped because it was ineffective! The oncologist then said there was nothing more they could do but have her admitted to palliative care, and immediately left the room, without giving any time for questions or any type of positive outcomes, not even the time for questions to address fears. He relates it was like a clinical death sentence! Just think about this if it happened to one of your loved ones!
On the other hand this woman's GP's (General Practitioners) were very empathetic to the patient and took the time to address fears and took the time to offer emotional and clinical support, answer fears and offered ways to focus on the quality of life for both his wife and himself.
You really have to wonder why the oncologists or surgeons, just do not have the empathy that a General Practitioner can have, Do you think that once their business is done, they just carry on with the next case? In this case it really speaks to that with a Universal insensitivity to humanity.
Could it be the existence of a Universal Health Care System, that breeds a high frequency of universal insensitivity? This is truly something to think about! And, something that the Universities need to address in their curriculum. We all want empathy at certain times in our lives, we need it and our minds feed on this, being positive in times of adversity can prolong life and lead to much happier outcomes for both the patient and loved ones.
Empathy and Cancer Survival Treatments
I have heard it told by some patients or by their surviving loved ones, that when a cancer patient is being treated in the hospital, there is a definite problem with Empathy! And in many cases it is when the cancer patient has had to be seen by many Doctors for various treatments over a period of a year or so. Some loved ones, now left behind, feel that their Mother, Wife, Husband, Children, etc. were somewhat more abused by the system and the Doctors and Surgeons. Is this right? Should there be a more human side to a Doctor, Specialist or Surgeon rather than the clinical side we see so often?
Should these Doctors and Specialists also Hospital Staff have to be educated on Empathy or is it left out of their curriculum?A lot of questions here that need a response. Don't Doctors and Hospital Staff realize that Empathy can serve a patient even if it gives them a more positive outlook on their state of health at any time through their course of treatments. Non existent empathy on the part of a Doctor or Health Care Provider only causes negative feelings as a fundamental cause of illness.
Don't get me wrong now, there are excellent Doctors and Health Care Providers out there, and when the patient feels the Doctor or Provider is totally interested in their recovery, this creates an atmosphere of good positive feelings for both the patient and their loved ones. This is really what I am speaking about! Humans need this...it is like nurturing a patient back to health even in the case of a patient perhaps having a more terminal state of illness. So could this not be taught alongside of all their other studies, because there are some great Doctors out there, but they do not have what is called proper "bedside manners" which is so important to the well being of patients.
A case in point...After a man I read about who had a very sick wife with cancer, which was found because she had succumbed to jaundice, rushed to his Doctor, who immediately requested the proper tests. At that time they just stated it was bacterial or viral in nature. 2 months later they decided to do an MRI with dye - and it then was suggested that she had bile duct cancer. Following surgery a couple of months later he was informed that they removed pancreatic tumor but that it destroyed the bile duct, and that she was a candidate for chemo, but following 6 months of chemo it was immediately stopped because it was ineffective! The oncologist then said there was nothing more they could do but have her admitted to palliative care, and immediately left the room, without giving any time for questions or any type of positive outcomes, not even the time for questions to address fears. He relates it was like a clinical death sentence! Just think about this if it happened to one of your loved ones!
On the other hand this woman's GP's (General Practitioners) were very empathetic to the patient and took the time to address fears and took the time to offer emotional and clinical support, answer fears and offered ways to focus on the quality of life for both his wife and himself.
You really have to wonder why the oncologists or surgeons, just do not have the empathy that a General Practitioner can have, Do you think that once their business is done, they just carry on with the next case? In this case it really speaks to that with a Universal insensitivity to humanity.
Could it be the existence of a Universal Health Care System, that breeds a high frequency of universal insensitivity? This is truly something to think about! And, something that the Universities need to address in their curriculum. We all want empathy at certain times in our lives, we need it and our minds feed on this, being positive in times of adversity can prolong life and lead to much happier outcomes for both the patient and loved ones.
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