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Tatiana Prowell: Bad news delivered with honesty and compassion is love

Tatiana Prowell/Medscape

Nov 18, 2023, 16:59

Tatiana Prowell: Bad news delivered with honesty and compassion is love

Tatiana Prowell shared a X/Twitter post by David Steensma, an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, adding:

“Knowing how much to say to each of our patients, and choosing the appropriate words, is an art. The task entrusted to physicians of giving bad news is both an immense privilege and a grave responsibility.

Bad news delivered with honesty and compassion is love.”

Quoting David Steensma’s post:

“Truth matters. I found this Journal of Clinical Oncology essay by Dr Hellman, “Gift of Truth”, moving. She describes how her father was able to make his last days count – he called all his old research collaborators to say thank you! – because of his oncologist’s honesty.”

Sources: Tatiana Prowell/X and David Steensma/X

Tatiana M. Prowell is an Associate Professor of Oncology in the Division of Women’s Malignancies at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Breast Cancer Scientific Liaison to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She was the principal architect of FDA’s policy on accelerated approval using pathological complete response as a novel regulatory endpoint in the neoadjuvant high-risk breast cancer setting, and a member of the Biden Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel Cancer Immunology Working Group. A frequent public speaker, she is a three-time recipient of FDA’s Excellence in Communication Award. She is a past Giants of Cancer Care Award finalist, the recipient of the 2019 John and Samuel Bard Medal in Science or Medicine, and the recipient of a 2020 Webby Special Achievement Award for her effective use of social media during the pandemic. A passionate medical educator and mentor, she was Chair of the 2020 ASCO Annual Meeting Education Committee.