The obituaries were already on the wires. We told the resident on duty in the ICU that the television in her room had to be turned off. The resident said that television news could be helpful in maintaining mentation in unconscious patients. We said her father had died. It was a news story. She could not be allowed to learn from CNN that her father was dead. The television set was turned off. When we came back that evening the set was back on. We said it again. The next day when I walked into the ICU there was a sign taped up. “DEAD FATHER. NO TV.”
