“The Difficulty of Speaking in Healthcare: What Do Linguistic Taboos Reveal About Illness?”

As we know, talking about death doesn’t kill anyone. And yet, it’s never easy. It remains something unspeakable, especially when faced with a serious illness. Hence the use of metaphors, circumlocutions, euphemisms, and other rhetorical devices to avoid the subject.

What do the taboos of our society—from which death has been banished—tell us? If language reflects our perceptions, what are the implications of such a suppression in healthcare?

Cancer is a prime example. The very word is shocking, devastating, and terrifying when delivered as a medical diagnosis. Even in obituaries and memorials, it is often replaced by the standard phrase “long illness.”

Does naming things—and their ills—give them a new lease on life, or can it bring relief to someone at the end of life by allowing them to speak freely? How can we be sincere without sacrificing kindness? Does obscuring reality or softening its harshness amount to choosing a certain kind of peace of mind?

At the risk of misunderstandings, is ambiguity necessary to maintain a therapeutic relationship? In the dynamic between sick children, parents, and caregivers, the taboo surrounding death is often heightened. Does avoiding the subject risk placing additional strain and pressure on a child at the end of life?

These are all questions we will raise with the guest speakers at this meeting.

Starring:

• Vanessa Fall-Caillol, palliative care aide at the Montpellier Cancer Institute;
• Laurent Lemaître, a pediatric oncology psychologist at Montpellier University Hospital;
• Gail Taillefer, chair of the patient advisory committee at the Claudius Rigaud Oncopole in Toulouse;
• an oncologist;
• and testimonials from two patients.