Breaking bad news

I thank medical student Nir Lipsman for his insightful and touching article on the hospital's Family Room.1 This room is usually spoken of, if at all, in hushed and sometimes reverent tones, and when one meets with family members and loved ones there, one is generally met with emotions at the polar ends of the emotional spectrum. The physician's information will lead to either complete devastation or utter elation; there is rarely a reaction in between these extremes.

Attending physicians can learn from Lipsman's advice to avoid dancing around the truth, something I have seen happen far too often. When I informed a Family Room full of people that their loved one in the intensive care unit would be paralyzed from the neck down for life, I was met not with sobs and grief, but with questions: “What is the next step? What can we do to help? When can he come home to live with us?” Like Lipsman, I never cease to be amazed by the strength and resilience of these families.