Now I’m on a roll I’ll add a bit more….
Breaking bad news is a skill which is taught to health professionals (see SPIKES protocol), it’s unusual for emotions apart from compassion, empathy to be shown but can’t be ruled out. They usually remove themselves from the situation when overwhelmed.
Anyway, post diagnostics, it’s very unusual for an oncologist to come to a ward to break the news when they know those curtains aren’t sound proof - the ‘S’ in SPIKES refers to Setting. When something is found there is usually an MDT in the following days which looks at the staging and treatment options. It’s usual for the DR on the ward to say something has been found but rarely do they go into detail as to what this is and they would never give a prognosis. The MDT is held, then the patient is called to an outpatient appointment. If they are still an inpatient, they’ll be taken via porter to the appointment or, if it has to be held on the ward, it will be in a private area.
I’m calling BS on this situation, it simply wouldn’t happen. If it did, lessons need to be learned.