Semoon Chang
University of South Alabama, USA
Title: Desperate needs for compassion from oncologists
Biography
Biography: Semoon Chang
Abstract
My wife passed away from pancreatic cancer, five years after the Whipple surgery and desperate efforts of treatment for two years at the MS Anderson in Houston and Southern Cancer Center in Mobile, Alabama. This is an actual, and in-depth, case story of our experience in our interaction with oncologists during the last days of her life. Conclusion of the paper is that we felt no compassion from our oncologists. Compassion does not mean being nice or sweet-talking to patients. Compassion means to give patients medicine before they need it, explain them in detail what the future may hold, and guide them step by step so that they can leave this world with no pain, peace of mind, and dignity. We never received one.