Bedside Manner

[albaqwerty]

over the years, I have come to the conclusion that 'bedside manner' and platitudes from a doctor or specialist is best kept for the relatives and not the patient.
If I am (hopefully never) diagnosed with something, I'd much rather have the hard facts so I know what I'm dealing with.

I know there are ways to break the news to a patient rather than being brutal tho.

Any thoughts?

[ummmm]

Bedside manner is the way you speak to someone imo. Some doctors can be very dismissive.

[sunny-dave]

Tricky - I once worked with a surgeon who had the bedside manner of Attila the Hun - but he was also the best neurosurgeon in the country.

I'd always have wanted him to be caring for me (if needed) and appreciated his honesty, but his "you're probably going to die, but I'm your best hope of not doing so" message did need a bit of sugar coating for some relatives.

[jno]

bedside manner is just being approachable to people rather than offputting; it doesn't involve lying or misleading, I don't think. Someone who can break the bad news in a comforting way.

[Sqad]

Bedside manner, in my view, has nothing at all to do with news...good or bad. It is the way that a doctor "manages "the case in the view of the patient.
"ooh! he was nice,"
"Lovely she was"
"reassured me all the way through"
All these phrases are indicative of "bedside manner"...more important to some than others.

[ummmm]

When I was about 6 months pregnant I was in hospital with an infection. I threw up and the midwife more or less told me off.