Medscape June 12, 2024
CHICAGO — Carlos, a 21-year-old, laid in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life. Following a stem cell transplant for leukemia, Carlos had developed a life-threatening case of graft-vs-host disease.
But Carlos’ mother had faith.
“I have hope things will get better,” she said, via interpreter, to Richard Leiter, MD, a palliative care doctor in training at that time.
“I hope they will,” Leiter told her.
“I should have stopped there,” said Leiter, recounting an early-career lesson on hope during the ASCO Voices session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2024 annual meeting. “But in my eagerness to show my attending and myself that I could handle this conversation, I kept going, mistakenly.”
“But none of us think...
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