Tell Me the Truth

‘In this age of modern technology, what patients and their relatives increasingly want from doctors is a return of the old touch, the touch of healing and humanity that seemed to exist in abundance when there was nothing else the doctor could do.’ What is it like to tell someone ‘I’m afraid you have cancer?’ How do you truthfully answer the question ‘How long have I got?’ How do you sustain hope and preserve human dignity at the end of a life? What do you do when a patient’s children are the same age as your own, and her illness is a daily reminder of your mortality? How do you tell a family that their loved one has not survived? These are just some of the questions that confront oncologist Ranjana Srivastava every day as she treats cancer patients. With honesty and empathy, Ranjana takes us right inside the world of medicine, where we witness the intimacies of life and death, and the unexpected truths that can emerge from the briefest encounters. While these experiences take place in an Australian hospital, the issues Ranjana and her patients confront-of pain, loss and death-are universal. Medicine may not always provide a cure, but these conversations between an oncologist and her patients will help and heal in ways that are profound and life-affirming. Finally, Tell Me the Truth is an acknowledgement of the incredible courage and dignity of ordinary people as they find an extraordinary grace in confronting cancer, life and death.