Cancer Stories: The Art Of Oncology

Listen to ASCO’s Journal of Clinical Oncology essay, “Knuckleheads” by Dr. Timothy Gilligan, Vice Chair for Education at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. The essay is followed by an interview with Gilligan and host Dr. Lidia Schapira. Gilligan emphasizes the importance of partnering with his patients to understand what they are going through and their reason for rejecting recommended treatment.   TRANSCRIPT Narrator: Knuckleheads by Tmothy D. Gilligan, MD, FASCO (10.1200/JCO.24.00160) I was in tumor board when I first heard about him. One of my former colleagues referred to patients like this as knuckleheads, patients who were interfering with our plan to treat their cancer. He needed chemotherapy. He kept refusing. He was going to be referred to me so that I could talk some sense into him. Preparing to go into the examination room, I realized I was getting ready to use my medical knowledge to try to make him consent to chemotherapy. After all, that is what he needed. If only he would listen t