[OnACoffeeBreak]

There was a recent The Moth: Radio Hour [1] where an emergency room physician talked about dealing with death in the ER. I was struck by the deliberate decision to be blunt about what had happened. She specifically says that she cannot mince words and say that the patient "departed" or "moved on" because inevitably the concerned family and friends will assume that their loved one has been moved to another hospital or something.

This is not to argue your point of preference. It's just something that changed my perspective recently, and it may be interesting.

1. http://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId...

[igravious]

They made this a serial joke on Arrested Development if you remember. Starting with the doctor saying, "We lost your father" and the whole family goes into shock and mourning. The doctor continues, "We can't find him anywhere, we have no idea where he is" and the Bluth family go beserk at the lexical ineptitude of his communication.

[evanb]

"He's going to be all right."

"Oh, thank god!" "Finally, some good news from this guy!"

"That's a great attitude. I gotta tell you, if I were getting this news I don't know that I'd take it this well."

"But, you said he was alright?"

"Yes. He's lost his left hand, so he's going to be all right"