Table 3

Selected Negative Critical Incidents

Exemplar 1

"When I told some friends that I had prostate cancer, their reaction was stunned silence and a somewhat unhelpful statement."

Exemplar 2

I did my homework and made the choice. But it's better to have someone help with the logic of how to decide."

Exemplar 3

"Only later in the process when the insurance company assigned a 'Case Manager,' which turned out to be several people, and none seemed to grasp what was going on."

Exemplar 4

"My best friend died in Akron, OH and nobody where I live really knew her. I shared the sadness, but it was not like they knew her."

Exemplar 5

"The Hospice team decided my husband was 'stable' and hospice support was not needed. They withdrew support (which was quite minimal anyway) over my objections, and made me very angry. A month later, other Hospice people apologize, but the damage was done."

Exemplar 6

"Brother was too busy to run errands for me."

Exemplar 7

"Daughter, never able to help family."