Cancer Stories: The Art Of Oncology

Listen to ASCO’s Journal of Clinical Oncology essay, ““Why Me?”, a Question of Opportunity,” by Simon Wein, head of Palliative Care Service at the Davidoff Cancer Centre. The essay is followed by an interview with Wein and host Dr. Lidia Schapira. Wein considers if patients are able to make rational decisions about their health when they are able to accept the reality of illness. TRANSCRIPT  Narrator: “Why Me?”, a Question of Opportunity, by Simon Wein, MD  “Why me?” A question is an opportunity. It is also an invitation and a revelation. A question by its nature reveals something about the asker. When a patient or family member asks the doctor a question, the challenge for the doctor is to follow up the question diagnostically, then therapeutically, be the therapy medication, or talking. Some questions appear mechanical, such as “Will I be able to drive again?” while others are more obviously self reflective, such as “Why did I get sick?” However, even the most mechanically minded question may be fraught w