Speaking to a wife after her husband's collapse
PLAB 2 practice station

The task

You are a doctor in an emergency department. Mr Olumide Adeyemi, aged 68, collapsed at home and was brought in by ambulance. Resuscitation was started by the paramedics and continued here for 40 minutes in total, but he never regained consciousness and he died a few minutes ago. His wife followed by car and is now waiting in the relatives' room. A staff nurse is with you. Go in, tell her what has happened and support her. Do not discuss organ donation or post-mortem. The examiner will not take part in the conversation.

What this station tests

• Say died. Euphemisms leave relatives unsure what has happened.
• Offer to see the body and prepare the relative for what they will see.
• Address guilt directly: the bystander did the right thing.
• A sudden death with no known cause is reported to the coroner. Say this is routine and not a sign of blame.
• Do not ask relatives to make decisions on the day of death.

Sources for the clinical content

• GMC: Good medical practice
• GOV.UK: When a death is reported to a coroner
• The Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019

An original practice scenario with invented patients. Not an exam question.

Practise next

• Giving a scan result to a man with a persistent cough
• Giving an early pregnancy scan result after bleeding
• Daughter asks you to hide a diagnosis