The care of a person with a diseased and broken heart.

This essay, written by a physician/priest, responds to a dilemma experienced by a physician-in-training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the published clinical vignette a patient with life threatening heart disease left the hospital against medical advice. The author expresses his view that the apparent failure of communication between physician and patient exemplifies, as Richard Cabot long ago claimed, the need for collaboration between providers of medical and pastoral care and illustrates the different roles each plays.