Imaginary scenarios as resources to argue for treatment advice in cancer consultations

Abstract

The literature suggests that medical consultation is inherently argumentative in nature as a result of doctors' legal obligation to provide their patients with all relevant information prior to treatment. Within a discursive and conversational approach, this chapter explores how an oncologist argues for treatment advice within cancer consultations. Drawing on a data set of video-recorded post-surgical cancer consultations collected in Italy, the analysis highlights a discursive practice through which the oncologist builds imaginary scenarios, and uses them to construct and draw the patient into a complex medical field. We explored three variations of such imaginary sequences analyzing the ways in which they supported situated arguments orienting the patient toward evidence-based treatment options. We argue that imaginary scenarios are argumentative devices that help to maintain a balance between instructing and empowering the patient and facilitating patient's acceptance of medical advice and evidence-based standards.