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August 27-28, 2018 | Boston, USA
4
th
International Conference on
Palliative Care, Medicine and Hospice Nursing
Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine | ISSN: 2165-7386 | Volume 8
Semoon Chang
University of South Alabama, USA
Desperate needs for compassion from oncologists
M
y wife passed away from pancreatic cancer, five years after the Whipple surgery and desperate efforts of treatment for two
years at MS Anderson in Houston and Southern Cancer Center in Mobile, Alabama. This is an actual, and in-depth, case
story of our experience in our interaction with oncologists during the last days of her life. The conclusion of the paper is that
we felt no compassion from our oncologists. Compassion does not mean being nice or sweet-talking to patients. Compassion
means to give patients medicine before they need it, explain them in detail what the future may hold, and guide them step by
step so that they can leave this world with no pain, peace of mind, and dignity. We never received one.
Biography
Semoon Chang is a retired professor of economics from the University of South Alabama where he and his wife, Youngshin Chang, established an endowment for
humanitarian service. He served as president of the Homeless Coalition of Mobile, president of the Planning Council of the United Way of Southwest Alabama, and
president of the Association for University Business and Economic Research. Currently, he is a columnist of the daily Korea Times and a panelist of the quarterly
World Economic Survey sponsored by the University of Munich in Germany.
changsemoon@yahoo.comSemoon Chang, J Palliat Care Med 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2165-7386-C3-019