A medical doctor is a well regarded and well numerated profession. They are pillars of society. They are trusted and revered in a way that teachers rarely are. The status of a doctor in the field of computer science or engineering is not much more than someone with a common or garden degree. Nobody knows what a research question is or how science is advanced. Everyone knows House and Grays Anatomy. Fuck those fake doctors with their models and predictive power. We don’t revere truth tellers, we revere celebrity. We want dat bedside rizz. That’s how Dr Shipman killed us. That’s why Professor Nutt was fired from his post.
Sometimes people just want to be left alone. There’s no solution to grief besides time. You can’t materially improve this position but you can be around if they want to talk or just be around people.