Chapter 11 Summary

"Hope and the Cancer Patient" defines hope and introduces Harvey Nuland, Dr. Sherwin Nuland's brother. The literary definitions are offered from the Webster's Unabridged and the Oxford English Dictionary. In How We Die, hope is presented from the viewpoint of both the doctor and the patient.

"Because I didn't want to take away his only hope," is a common refrain of doctors and nurses in the treatment of the terminally ill. Dr. Nuland explains that after the diagnoses, recommendations for treatment are largely impacted by that one perception. Whether it is the doctor's or the patient's, the perception of hope may be responsible for the path one takes toward the end of life. Is one more treatment, one more combination of medications, or one more theory going to change the course of the patient's last days, weeks, or months of life? It is...