Communicating with patients with serious or terminal cancers

Physician
October 5, 2013

Earlier this month, a candid and powerful personal essay was published by Jessica Rice, a thirtysomething woman with terminal cancer. An emerging theme of Jessica’s piece was the importance of frank conversation between physician and patient, and I was curious what a provider — someone who has difficult conversations on an almost daily basis — would think of this patient’s story and perspective.

Thoracic oncologist Kavitha Jennifer Ramchandran, MD, read the piece …

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Communicating with patients with serious or terminal cancers

Experiencing my first Facebook era death

Social media
September 8, 2012

I recently experienced my first Facebook-era death. It had been several years – long before the ubiquity of social media – that I had last lost a relative, and I quickly discovered that experiencing loss and grieving online comes with a unique set of pros and cons.

I learned of my uncle’s stroke the old-fashioned way: via phone. My parents and I kept in steady contact that way over the next 36 hours, but it was Facebook that filled me in …

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Experiencing my first Facebook era death