We have completed maintenance on DiscoverMagazine.com and action may be required on your account. Learn More

Code of Denial

Doctors have a dispassionate language for talking to really sick patients. But it doesn't work with people they love.

By Tena Moyer
Oct 1, 1999 5:00 AMNov 12, 2019 4:36 AM

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

Three weeks after my sister, Andrea, is diagnosed with breast cancer I am running a breast cancer screening clinic. It is my first day of a new job, and all the patients are strangers to me. I have left a large hmo in Los Angeles to practice at this rural clinic in the mountains surrounding Idyllwild, California, because I wanted medicine to be more personal, more in touch with the lives of my patients. Now, suddenly, in ways unimagined, medicine has touched my life in a very personal way.

Full text of this article appears in Discover magazine.

OncolinkNational Cancer Institute's CancerNetNational Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations' directory

1 free article left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

1 free articleSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.