Communicating with the dying.

Non-verbal signals are very subtle: they are socially learnt and can be as confusing to a foreigner as an unknown language. We watch a person's face and observe slight changes of expression in the eyes or mouth. We note the making or evasion of eye contact and whether the movement is natural or forced. We unconsciously see the embarrassed wave of a hand and hear a change in the timbre of the voice. In ways such as this we convey not only facts but feelings and what we communicate is not always under our direct control. It is incredible that patients in a hospital ward can still be moved to the bed nearest the door or to