For the last several years, I’ve been attending the annual Jonathan King lecture at Stanford. King had cancer and started a lecture series before he died to get across two messages to MDs:
- they must empathize with their patients
- they must foster a patient’s feelings of control and hope
This year’s lecture on October 21st was remarkable. Palliative care expert Timothy Quill, MD, gave a talk about the importance of palliative care. He said that palliative care is for the seriously ill with “a high symptom burden”, while hospice is for the terminally ill. In palliative care, there are three thoughts:
- we hope for the best
- we attend to the present
- we prepare for the worst
Dr. Quill noted that all physicians should be able to have a palliative care conversation with their patients. The conversation includes open-ended questions such as:
- what is the best that might happen
- what is the worst that might happen
- is faith important
Quill believes that “doctors should address the emotional ramifications of illness, as well as the medical treatment plan, with their patients.”
Though Dr. Quill’s lecture was very good, what made the event so remarkable is that he had a palliative care conversation with a Stanford neurosurgeon who was diagnosed last year with advanced-stage lung cancer. Dr. Paul Kalanithi, the cancer patient, was very open about his thoughts and feelings. I first read about Dr. Kalanithi in January 2014 as he authored an article in the New York Times about being diagnosed and wondering what his prognosis is. It was an honor to meet him in person.
Stanford Medicine published an article about Dr. Quill’s conversation with Dr. Kalanithi. I hope the wonderfulness of the event comes across in the article. Here’s a link to it:
A conversation with a cancer patient about palliative care
Stanford Medicine News Center
October 22, 2014
Robin