Abstract
There are at least four reasons why this should be in the palliative medicine literature. First, globally, patients with cancer comprise the vast majority of patients who need palliative care. Oncologists of all stripes, medical, surgical, radiation, and pediatric, have been vilified by palliateurs for not collaborating, or referring, or respecting our field. This series gives an entirely different feel of what the lives of oncologists are like. Rather than anger, the series generates compassion. All of us in the field need to have compassion and an appreciation for the unique challenges of the practicing oncologist.
Second, any field that grows needs to have a thorough understanding of those it seeks to serve. If palliative care is to grow to better serve patients with cancer, it needs to grow to better serve the oncologists. This series will likely generate new insights and new approaches to getting access to more oncologists and their patients and families. I imagine that someone might take one of the vignettes and call on a reluctant oncologist and say, “Gee, I was reading this column that was published in your journal, I was wondering if it is really like this as an oncologist?” I imagine new understanding and trust might develop.
Third, as illustrated in the contribution from Rabow and colleagues, 2 as hospital-based palliative care services grow, and community hospice and palliative care programs care for more patients with more varied and challenging situations, they need to be responsive to their local needs and opportunities. I imagine selections from this series could create opportunities in cancer centers and cancer hospitals because it illustrates that we have developed understanding of the cancer community and its members—not just the needs of patients and families.
Fourth, it is a model of what could develop in other branches of medicine. I could imagine similar series being developed for transplant surgeons, for cardiologists who run congestive heart failure programs, for pediatricians who care for patients with genetic abnormalities. I suspect each could follow the brave leadership of the oncologists of describing when they do not feel invincible, or when the evidence does not support what they find themselves doing.
The readership, and the authorship, of the Journal of Palliative Medicine now reaches around the world. I am struck with how similar, and how intransigent, the common issues are for those in our field wherever we work. We should be known for reaching out to the other branches of our field, discovering where our field can meet their needs, and those of their patients and families.