Palliative care: The first conversation
He does not want to talk to me, that much is clear. He has had enough of doctors. He is a man of few words. His eyes do not meet mine. His coarse, calloused farmer’s hands play purposelessly with the starched white of the hospital bed sheet. The gentle hiss of his oxygen is barely heard over the hum of the city traffic below. Out of his element.
“Tell me, what …