Palliative Care and Communication 2002

In this volume, the author seeks to explain the optimism associated with recovery that patients in a terminal state with small cell bronchial cancer or lung cancer have. Over a period of five years, the author used ethnographic research methods to monitor patients' disease processes from the time of the consultation, during which they received bad news, until their death, from their perspective and that of the various people involved. Based on narrative descriptions, interspersed with observations, the author explains why this happens in practice.