The Doctor Who Cried
| “The patient visits because her husband is seriously ill with metastasizing cancer. The doctor has known her (but not him) for years and followed the course of disease. The patient has 2 small children, and says that it is difficult to tell the children how ill their father is. Now they have received the message that nothing more can be done and that he will die within a few days. |
| Tears burst into the eyes of the doctor when the patient tells this. She must swallow and gets Kleenex. The patient does not cry. Then the doctor writes another sick leave certificate to her. The patient has previously been sick-listed several times in this period. Some days later, the husband dies. |
| Later on, the patient describes this event publicly. She says it had meant a lot for her that the doctor became touched.” |