On a phone call the body language is lost. Is my patient’s wife asking me this while doing housework, or are her knuckles white with fear?
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“Doctor, be straight with me. It’s not looking good, is it?”
The question catches me unawares. Worse, on an unexpected phone call the body language is lost. Is she asking me this while preparing dinner or are her knuckles white with fear? Is this something she has been meaning to ask or a spur-of-the-moment dread escaped in words?