It’s not uncommon for Andrew Epstein to spend sleepless nights replaying scenes from his day and wondering what more he could have done for his patients. Often, the answer is nothing—but that still doesn’t help his insomnia.
Epstein is an oncologist at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York. His job requires conversations with patients who are extremely sick. Sometimes, he’s breaking the news of the severity of their illness to them; other times, he’s telling them the treatment they thought may work has failed, and it’s time to begin preparing for end-of-life care.
Each encounter is so emotionally draining, he can only do it for about half of the week; he spends the rest of his time preparing for future conversations with new patients, or recovering.
Tags: bad news, bioethics, doctor patient communication, mortality, relationship
