[Skip to Navigation]
Sign In

Featured Clinical Reviews

A Piece of My Mind
December 7, 2011

His Patients. My Patients.

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (jspangle@wakehealth.edu).

JAMA. 2011;306(21):2305-2306. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1747

There are some things you do not learn about someone until after he dies.

“I really miss him, Dr Spangler,” Mrs G told me tearfully.

“It was quite a shock. I don't think I’ll get over it,” Mr C told me the first time I saw him.

“He was so kind, Dr Spangler. He reached out and touched my hand as he gently told me I have Parkinson's disease,” Mrs V added one afternoon in clinic. “He said very kindly, ‘I am sorry to tell you that this disease will continue to get worse, and you may die from it. But there are medications we can use, and I will be here to help you through it all.’”

Add or change institution
×