Second thoughts led Dr. Daniela Lamas to write an editorial titled, “My Patient Didn’t Need Honesty” (New York Times, October 7; A17). I’m glad she wrote about it, and should she ever be my doctor, I will ask her to tell me the truth.
A critical care doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Lamas writes about a man diagnosed with colon cancer, which might have been cured but he refused to face reality. Untreated for many months, “he arrived in our unit one night last winter, his cheeks were gaunt, his body wasted and abdomen protruding. He was also angry.” When she gave her grave prognosis, “he lashed out. There was nothing wrong with him, he insisted.”
Dr. Lamas persisted, which she second-guesses, but the truth is what I would want my doctor to share. “‘I wish there were something we could do, but the cancer is too advanced. You’re dying.’ …he turned his head away, as if to avoid my words. I pressed on. ‘It could be hours now. I don’t think you will make it through the night.’ He yelled, ‘Get out!’ with all that his failing body could muster. He didn’t want any more of our lies.” “Denial was my patient’s only defense mechanism. And as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how cruel it was to take this defense from him in the final hours of his life.”
As death approaches, we have nothing, our only hope is Jesus Christ. The implanted word has taught us we cannot deny our end, and raging against death is futile. I’m thankful for caring doctors like Dr. Lamas but also thank the Spirit for every person, every family member, every pastor who comes to a bedside with hope in the death and resurrection of Christ. “If death my portion be, / It brings great gain to me; / It speeds my life’s endeavor / To live with Christ forever. / He gives me joy in sorrow, / Come death now or tomorrow.” (Lutheran Service Book, 745:3). Dr. Arnold Kuntz: “Life narrows down and crisis comes. And suddenly only one thing matters, and there, in the narrow place, stands Jesus.”