Box 6.

: Regret

• The researcher visits Mrs L at her home, some time after Mr L has died. They talk about the time when he was in treatment.
• “What I find very difficult,” says Mrs L, “is that my son cannot get over the fact that he went on holidays last Christmas, when he could have spent time with his father, and that the whole family could have been together. He could easily have taken holidays later on.”
• “Perhaps,” she continues cautiously, “Perhaps the doctors should have told us more often and more clearly that it was the end. I didn't hear them say that. My son would never have gone away last Christmas. Perhaps we would have realised sooner how serious the situation actually was.”