Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Dialogues of comfort

  • Dialogues of comfort

    Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece My patient is a veteran physician, quite advanced in years but mentally lucid and fully aware of his condition. His disease is incurable, and he is in need of a chest aspiration for symptomatic relief of his breathlessness. He is also impatient. “How much fluid have you drawn?” he asks gruffly every…