"Write Your Best Chapter"

How do you talk with patients when the stakes are high? Can you establish trust with the patient, without taking away their hope, and aligning their wishes and goals with the medical treatment options we offer?

In this episode, we will talk about how the words we choose to communicate with patients allow us to have more meaningful conversations such that both parties get the best outcome possible. Patients empowered to make meaningful decisions and physician being able to deliver bad news without feeling overwhelmed or a sense of abandoning their patient. 

When we are diagnosed with a terminal illness, we all hope for longer time. Even when odds are not in our favor, somehow, we believe that we are immune to what's to come. Somehow we may get to cheat death in the end. It's my experience that 'hope' ends up blindfolding us from the reality of our lives. Hope keeps us from making the right decisions to get us the ending we would want for ourselves. By imagining that somehow we are exception to the rule, we lose the objectivity to make decisions that may give us a better life, a better last chapter. In this episode, I empower you to ask the right questions from your patient, or if you are the patient, I encourage you to focus on what matters to you most.

When we are diagnosed with a terminal illness, we all hope for longer time. Even when odds are not in our favor, somehow, we believe that we are immune to what's to come. Somehow we may get to cheat death in the end. It's my experience that 'hope' ends up blindfolding us from the reality of our lives. Hope keeps us from making the right decisions to get us the ending we would want for ourselves. By imagining that somehow we are exception to the rule, we lose the objectivity to make decisions that may give us a better life, a better last chapter. In this episode, I empower you to ask the right questions from your patient, or if you are the patient, I encourage you to focus on what matters to you most. 

In an introductory podcast, I will introduce myself to you. I am a palliative care physician with 20 years of experience. I have practiced medicine in Michigan, Arizona, California and now Hawaii.

You will hear about how I became interested in caring for seriously ill and dying patients. Why it matters to me that when struck by an illness, we should all have a say as to how our lives should end.

I want to empower physicians to have better conversations with their patients about their goals and wishes, without thinking that they are taking their hope away.

But most importantly, I want all of us to be encouraged to live a mindful life, one that allows us to appreciate the present moment. To consider checking off whatever is on our bucket list before it is too late.

The major culprit for starting this podcast was the COVID pandemic. As I felt alone on a geographically isolated island, away from so many of my colleagues struggling with unimaginable death and suffering on the East coast, I imagined providing a podcast to share my thoughts and training may prove to be helpful.

Welcome!

In an introductory podcast, I will introduce myself to you. I am a palliative care physician with 20 years of experience. I have practiced medicine in Michigan, Arizona, California and now Hawaii.

You will hear about how I became interested in caring for seriously ill and dying patients. Why it matters to me that when struck by an illness, we should all have a say as to how our lives should end. 

I want to empower physicians to have better conversations with their patients about their goals and wishes, without thinking that they are taking their hope away. 

But most importantly, I want all of us to be encouraged to live a mindful life, one that allows us to appreciate the present moment. To consider checking off whatever is on our bucket list before it is too late. 

The major culprit for starting this podcast was the COVID pandemic. As I felt alone on a geographically isolated island, away from so many of my colleagues struggling with unimaginable death and suffering on the East coast, I imagined providing a podcast to share my thoughts and training may prove to be helpful. 

Welcome!