Seven Lessons from
a Dying Man

by William Bartholome

Over the years, the late Bill Bartholome, professor of pediatrics and clinical ethicist in the Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine, reflected on, and wrote about, the opportunities afforded him by the news that he had a terminal illness. Here are excerpts from a lecture he delivered at the KU Medical Center on April 15, 1999, a few months before his death. They were previously published in Vol. 49, No. 2 of KU Med, magazine of the KU Medical Center.

In June of 1994, my life was visited by a teacher the likes of which I had never encountered. By this teacher I have been taught lessons in a way that I had never learned before. I have come to know things about myself, about my profession and about this society that I never appreciated.

The mentor that has been part of my life and so powerfully teaching me since June of '94 has been cancer, metastatic adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.

What I would like to share with you today are the lessons we have learned over the past five years.

Lesson One >>>