ABSTRACT
This chapter considers all the patient's symptoms and all the information available to doctors and assesses the symptoms, signs and information given using this to choose the appropriate remedies for the problem and offers extra information where available and appropriate. Remain sensitive to the patient's vulnerability, and try to avoid provoking any sense of guilt, awkwardness or isolation. This may involve introducing other team members to the patient, being less involved in discussion about the patient, and supporting the building of trust between the patient and other team members. If health professionals have been feeling the patient's pain, they need to review how their coping with distancing themselves appropriately from the patient to whom they became too close.
