The balance between honesty and hope

The balance between honesty and hope
JAMA Cardiology; by Sarah Godfrey; 5/24
I am training to be a palliative cardiologist, often delivering heartbreaking news, but I was not prepared to receive it as a mother. Before [her new baby boy] N’s diagnosis, I would have said that our responsibility as physicians is to prepare families for the worst possible outcome. But how can we balance honesty and hope? Could that neurologist have prepared us for the potentially devastating outcome while also allowing us to believe more was possible? When I enter critical illness conversations now, I remember my desperate need for hope when I faced a parent’s worst nightmare. N has made me a better mother and physician, and he has taught me that we must allow hope to flourish even in the darkest of situations.