title: To Come Full Circle.
abstract: This story is a reflection on the concept of friendship and forgiveness, on belief in change and the difficulty in letting go. It is presented through the story of two elderly patients, sisters-in-law, next-door neighbors and friends, treated by the same family physician. A trivial argument causes a rift between the two, severing a 60-year friendship. Five years later, as one lays dying in her home, the physician, accompanied by her nurse, attempts to reconcile between the two. The article includes the physician's reflections on this process, her role as a "multi-system" physician in these patient's lives and its impact on her work.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel. Electronic address: rkannai@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kannai
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Human Development, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: aya_rice@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care
keywords: Friendship; dying; family physician; forgiveness; good death; guilt; home visit; letting go; palliative care; reconciliation; regret; suffering