angry at a consultant

[deggers316]

my brother who is in his 70s has just learned a few weeks ago he has Mesothelioma caused by working with asbestos 20+ years ago
he know this is terminal and nothing but palliative treatment is all that can be done ,BUT what angered his wife and rest of his family and me was that without asking how long he had had left which he or his wife did not wanted to know said "you have a year !"
of course this has been devastating to start with but being given A TIME is even more so
its ruined what time he has left in his life knowing that it's 1 year we are going to complain to someone about this .too late for my brother but could spare some other poor soul from knowing without asking first

[woofgang]

sorry Sqad the fact is that consultant doesn't KNOW how long this poor man has. He has an informed opinion and thats all and any information offered (not thrust) should be on that basis. I agree that someone in the family should know that the illness is terminal and that the treatment is palliative and ideally that person should be the patient who can then decide what to do with that knowledge....and if that means saying to the patient "what do you want to know" then that's what you do.