TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Logic Only Takes You So Far: The Power of Emotional Connection A1 - Johnson, Faye M. A1 - Epner, Daniel E. A2 - Epner, Daniel E. Y1 - 2022 N1 - T2 - Empathy: Real Stories to Inspire and Enlighten Busy Clinicians AB - One patient I cared for about five or six years ago is indelibly seared in my brain. He was a man in his 40s with progressive refractory oral cavity cancer who had traveled from a foreign country to MD Anderson accompanied by his two brothers after receiving several types of salvage chemotherapy at other cancer centers and was desperately seeking additional treatment options. Before seeing the man, I reviewed his medical record and learned that my colleague, who was his primary outpatient oncologist at MD Anderson, had already discussed goals of care and prognosis and had recommended against additional cancer treatment, instead recommending a purely palliative approach. However, my colleague qualified his recommendation by saying that the patient could receive additional chemotherapy if his performance status remained good. The man and his brothers therefore insisted on more chemotherapy,which, unfortunately, caused his platelet count to drop precipitously and led to uncontrolled bleeding from his tumor, which was the reason he entered the hospital. The bleeding was due to diffuse tumor oozing and was therefore not amenable to cauterization or embolization. I was taking my turn covering the inpatient service for a few weeks, so I served as his attending physician during his hospitalization, responsible for overseeing all aspects of his care. I found this situation to be even more daunting than usual because I was meeting him for the first time in the hospital rather than having had the opportunity to establish rapport in the clinic. The patient and his brothers would have to decide within moments whether they trusted me with his life. SN - PB - McGraw Hill LLC CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/28 UR - hemonc.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1190085623 ER -