About Empathy

Gill Deacon has returned to Here and Now which can be heard weekdays 3-6pm, on CBC Radio 99.1FM . She has written a memoir Naked Imperfection , and a national best-seller, There’s Lead In Your Lipstick .

Emotional or existential distress is not as easily noticed in patients with serious illness. Dr. Jennifer Moore is a palliative medicine consultant, specializing in dignity therapy. Claire Suarez is a physician’s assistant working in in-patient oncology and is trained in meaning centered therapy. Irene, Dori and Giovanna reference Harvey Chochinov’s work in dignity therapy and how it uses question...

When faced with serious illness, patients and caregivers take on new roles. Those who work in health care are in a unique position when becoming a caregiver for a loved one. Melodie cared for her parents in their final days. Her health care training as a nurse helped her to receive information from the doctors and pass it on to her family, but Melodie found it very emotionally difficult. Only dyin...

When faced with bad news, it can be difficult to speak to others leading to interactions that are inauthentic. Euphemisms, platitudes, and missed efforts, can patronize the patient and put distance in the relationship. Mike lives with metastatic colorectal cancer, and receives palliative care from Dr. Irene Ying. When Mike found out that his cancer was incurable, he felt a sense a freedom. No long...

When caring for a loved one with serious illness, caregivers focus intensely on the patient. Without checking in on the caregiver, the health care team may be overlooking the importance this has. Laurelea was the caregiver for her husband Steve. As Steve was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer, he had to stop taking antidepressants to start treatment of his disease. Laurelea describes the mental...

Dr Daphna Grossman is a palliative care physician at North York General Hospital in Toronto ON. Describing her journey to palliative care, Daphna speaks about the role of mentorship. Her care is rooted in kindness and compassion to alleviate any possible suffering. Daphna believes the impact on health care providers is two sided: enriching or exhaustive. In order to provide the best possible care,...

Susan shares her experience of taking care of her Dad as his cancer progressed. She learned the strong will he had. He was a person who didn’t complain, and appreciated the little things in his final days. In hindsight, Susan shares what was helpful for her as a caregiver. Irene, Dori and Giovanna, have a conversation about paying attention to non-verbal cues of a patient and the difficulty when a...

Aviva describes both the relief and fear of completing active treatment for marginal zone lymphoma. Survivorship, life after disease, has been an emotional journey that Aviva manages using writing, humour, meditation, and outreach as a patient advocate. Aviva talks about perceiving hope as relational - something she can move towards through interactions with others. She hopes that health care prov...

On their 22nd wedding anniversary, Sholom discusses the palliative care of his late wife, Erminia. Erminia made the graceful decision to transition to end of life care - motivated by spirituality. Sholom appreciates the care for his wife and talks about his gratitude practices. Giovanna, Dori and Irene discuss whether empathy can be taught and how it can enhance therapy. Gratitude is talked about...