What doctors say and what patients hear

This autumn the National Theatre’s repertoire will include a musical called A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer. What’s your first reaction? Revulsion at the poor taste of those involved? Despair that the theatre has nothing better to do? Or relief that a serious topic may be stripped of its mythology?

I’m in that last camp. But then, my perspective might be deemed somewhat peculiar: I’ve had prostate cancer since 2010, and three years ago it was declared incurable. Along the way I’ve acquired an interest in how health professionals communicate with patients about serious illnesses—and how this might be done better. To me, improving communication must start …