Latina surgeon has humanistic touch – Native of Puerto Rico takes a career path less traveled in the medical profession – Dr. Jane Mendez in Chicago

Dr. Jane Mendez, a breast cancer surgeon at Boston Medical Center, has bad news for her 60-year-old patient.

Two years ago, Mendez removed cancer from the woman’s left breast. As part of a clinical trial, the patient elected not to have post-cancer radiation treatment. Now Mendez has to tell the patient — a native of Puerto Rico, Mendez’s birthplace — that her recent mammogram showed calcification in her breast. The cancer may have returned.

Mendez delivers the news in Spanish, leaning against the wall and casually crouched in a submissive position. The patient’s 37-year-old daughter and 8-year-old granddaughter look on in silence as the patient resists Mendez’s request to remove the calcification with an operation.
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*From: www.chicagotribune.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

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