[the_snooze]

>Even if my words are accurate, rational, and true, the way I deliver them may color that truth with an entirely different message.

A doctor can deliver bad news of a terminal diagnosis with seriousness and sympathy. Or they can just glibly say "Don't bother buying green bananas."

[doubled112]

> Don't bother buying green bananas

I can't be the only one who thinks this delivery might be hilarious?

Of course, I respect and understand that not everybody would find it to be.

[krisoft]

> I can't be the only one who thinks this delivery might be hilarious?

Of course, it is literaly a joke.

But think about the context. In reality people who are informed that they have only days to live are usually gravely ill. They are typically not joking around with their doctors at a cocktail bar, but are in considerable discomfort and pain. They also probably worried about their symptomps, their loved ones, and their financials. It is also probably not the first day they are being ill. Being sick makes one cranky, being deathly ill makes you even more so. The patient maybe haven’t slept well in days, possibly weeks. By the time a doctor is certain enough that a patient is about to die they have run a gammut of test. Very likely many of them quite invasive and unpleasant.

On top of that nobody goes to the doctor expecting to be told that they are about to die. People are optimistic. They think a few more tests, and the doctor will figure out what is wrong with them, they might need an operation, or some new medicine and things will improve.

So you are feeling the worst you ever felt, has been probed and poked for a while, you are in an uncertain situation. This whole disaster is going on since days, perhaps weeks. There is no respit. Maybe you can’t breath, or curled up in fetal position from pain, or your hearth is pumping like it is about to explode. You are scared. Are you still sure you would enjoy that joke?

What is even worse, what if the patient misunderstands? Hears the joke and thinks the doctor is just being funny. Will they feel like the rug was pulled from under them once they realise that, yes the doctor is just funny, but no they are going to die for real.

But there is more. It is not enough for the prognosis to be medicaly correct. The patient has to also believe it. There is so many reason to reject to believe a deadly prognosis. I can’t see an easier way for a doctor to lose their patient’s trust than to treat their life, their whole being as the butt of a joke.

[musicale]

> I can’t see an easier way for a doctor to lose their patient’s trust than to treat their life, their whole being as the butt of a joke.

Many physicians (and some other medical staff) seem to enjoy mocking dying (or dead) or seriously ill patients and treating them as the punch line of a joke, and do so routinely - but doing it directly to the patient in question is usually considered bad taste.

It's an ugly practice, and one that can certainly alienate patients and family members when they overhear it, but I've heard it defended as "gallows humor" and a coping mechanism. Compassion, it is argued, is an inappropriate luxury.

Sometimes intentionally disparaging and mocking notes or comments are written in charts as well, much to the dismay of any patients who discover them.

[irrational]

My brother was diagnosed with cancer. Almost died on the third chemo treatment so cannot finish the other five treatments. He would think the banana line is hilarious and greatly appreciate it. His wife? Not so much. It really depends on the person.

[PTOB]

You're right. I too would find that hilarious. In fact, I'd be laughing, crying, and very grateful all at the same time I think.

[bagels]

I wouldn't find it funny because it isn't clear that what's being communicated is a joke as opposed to some obscure idiom that I don't know. I wouldn't buy green bananas because they taste terrible, so it would seem on the face, not very useful advice.

[AnimalMuppet]

In the abstract, sure, it's funny. Would I want a doctor to tell me this way? Or a family member? No.

[brhsagain]

I laughed out loud when I read it too.

[duxup]

It’s a fun phrase.

[cancerhacker]

OK, I do have to share: after receiving news that the surgeon on my cancer treatment team wasn't willing to tackle my liver metastasis, I was talking to my primary oncologist about next steps, if any, and timelines. He told me I should feel free to buy a new pair of shoes, but maybe not a car. (I appreciated his humor - and he helped me find a new surgeon, and that was 6 years ago. And I did end up buying a car when I needed to after. Probably shoes too.)

[neonate]

  A: knock knock

  B: who's there?

  A: insensitive doctor

  B: insensitive doctor wh--

  A (interrupting): you have cancer.

[rezaprima]

And I read the last line in Gregory House's voice