The Cancer Experience

Roy B. Sessions

doi:10.5771/9781442216235

Summary

Navigating the tumultuous waters of cancer treatment and decision making is difficult for all patients. It is also difficult for doctors and other medical personnel. This books deals with a variety of emotion-related and ethics issues that form much of the basis of the world of cancer related medicine: the responsibilities of the physician relative to truth, full disclosure, patient autonomy, death and dying, physician assisted suicide, and suicide in general among cancer patients. These and many other matters are discussed using real stories from the author’s extensive personal career in working with cancer patients and their families. This is not a book on treating cancer, but instead is a work that seeks to stimulate a dialog about these issues as well as the spiritual aspects of hope and other factors relating to the plight of cancer patients and their families.

Written for health care professionals and cancer victims and their families alike, the core of the book centers around questions of medical ethics, doctor-patient relationships, decision making during cancer treatment (from medical and patient points of view). Given the emotional commitment and energy level required to work with cancer patients in a moral and ethical manner, medical students and residents will ask themselves: do I really want to be a cancer physician? Can I handle the ups and downs of treating people who may (or may not) be destined to fight and lose the battle against this strong nemesis? How will I answer the tough questions regarding medical approaches to cancer? How will I respond to patients who indicate a desire to commit suicide or request my help in doing so? What can I tell families whose loved one is choosing treatments that will not help and will deteriorate his quality of life? Basing his responses on the Oath of Hippocrates, the author illustrates how adaptable this oath actually is when considering the secular society in which we function.

The Cancer Experience instructs doctors, medical students, and health care workers involved in cancer care on the proper role of medicine, the role of the doctor, and the opportunities for connecting with patients as they help them make decisions regarding treatment and end of life issues. It helps patients understand the issues facing doctors as they assist them, care for them, and try to maintain both close personal relationships but enough emotional and professional distance in order to protect themselves from the stress and strain when medicine fails and patients must face the hardest choices. Here the author promotes a return to traditional medical values that promote closer doctor-patient relationships in an effort to promote trust, civility, and partnership.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2012
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4422-1621-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4422-1623-5
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 206
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Author’s Note on Terminology No access
3. Foreword No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. Prologue No access
2. Chapter 01. Influences on My Development No access
3. Chapter 02. Why the Book? No access
4. Chapter 03. Protecting What’s Good through the Educational Process: Capitalizing on the Gene Pool No access
5. Chapter 04. Oncology Is Not for the Emotionally Stingy No access
6. Chapter 05. Hope No access
7. Chapter 06. Finding New Purpose after Enduring the Cancer Olympics No access
8. Chapter 07. Changing Times, Changing Methods, Unchanging Mission No access
9. Chapter 08. Seeking Functionality within a Moral Framework No access
10. Chapter 09. A Practical Adaptation of the Original Oath in Search for Modern Relevance No access
11. Chapter 10. Death and Dying: Natural and Otherwise No access
12. Chapter 11. Suicide: Patient Conceived, Planned, and Consummated No access
1. Chapter 12. Informal Physician-Patient Communication No access
2. Chapter 13. Patient Confidentiality and Special Patient Circumstances No access
3. Chapter 14. Essentials of Communication Skills: Listening, Hearing, Reading Body Language No access
4. Chapter 15. Gaining the Patient’s Confidence No access
5. Chapter 16. The Cancer Specialist as a Teacher of the Patient and Family: The Lead-Up to Treatment No access
6. Chapter 17. The Physician as an Educator after Treatment: Using the Cancer as a Tool No access
7. Chapter 18. The Journey from the Referring Doctor to the Oncologist: Uncertainty, Anxiety, and Hope along the Way No access
8. Chapter 19. More on Physician Leadership: Being in Charge No access
9. Chapter 20. Influences on Cancer Patients’ Attitudes and Receptiveness No access
10. Chapter 21. Communication When There Is Still Optimism for Cure No access
11. Chapter 22. Communication Once Treatment Failure Is Obvious No access
12. Chapter 23. Hospice Care No access
13. Chapter 24. Facing Death and Dyingwith the Patient No access
Epilogue No access Pages 182 - 184
Notes No access Pages 185 - 192
Bibliography No access Pages 193 - 196
Index No access Pages 197 - 204
About the Author No access Pages 205 - 206