Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Don’t torment me with hope

In defence of hope

BMJ 2020; 371 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3904 (Published 08 October 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m3904
  1. Santhanam Sundar, consultant oncologist
  1. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK
  1. sundar{at}oncology.org

Filby’s painful experience around her father’s death emphasises the need for more open and upfront, albeit difficult, conversations about prognosis and death.1 Society, as a whole, doesn’t embrace death in a rational manner, and oncologists are no exception.2 As observed in an ethnographic study, doctors and …

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