In addition to whatever emotional distress they may experience internally, they are also forced to exist in a world which is closing to them. The living cannot appreciate death. Even those whose religious paradigm permits them to assert that the nature of death is known, can bring no objective evidence to the bedside. A physician to the dying will listen. A physician to the dying will accompany.
Patients entrust their lives to the care of other people.
When patients are near death, they need a companion with whom to share their thoughts and feelings. Doctors are uniquely equipped to offer a hand of friendship to dying people. The doctor-patient relationship is not burdened by issues which invariably characterize typical human relationships. With the doctor, the patient need not feel compelled to act. Patients will not feel that they must internalize their suffering.