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By Gordon Rumford, February 11, 2007

My heart went out to the patient in the hospital bed.

His situation was clearly hopeless and yet the family was encouraging him to beat the disease.

They talked incessantly about when he would be coming home to celebrate the birthday in a couple of months. Certainly they meant well but they only added to the suffering of the already exhausted man. He was trying his best to cooperate with the hospital staff but it was not helping.

The doctors had told the family that he only had a few days to live and when they were out of the room they acknowledged to us the reality quite readily, but when with the patient they spoke as though he was going to get better.

Of course, they were between a rock and a hard place. They did not want the patient to give up hope and they did not wish to acknowledge to him that the end was near. But, in trying to keep his spirits up they were denying the reality he needed to face.

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