The doctor touches the patient, exploring for lumps, tumours and areas that cause pain. Despite all the tools of modern medicine, touching still sheds valuable information. It is also a direct form of contact between doctor and patient that requires trust and cooperation. The patient’s clothes rest on a nearby chair and a half-closed curtain signal that this is a private area. The distant view, a rare instance in the cancer series, is unobtrusive and restrained, and contrasts with the intimacy of the scene. Like a filmmaker, Robert will show another view with a close-up of the touching hands. But that image, Healing Hands, has an altogether different meaning. The hands are no longer used as a diagnostic tool. They may not even be a doctor’s hands. They could be the hands of a massage therapist, a caregiver or a trusted friend, but their function is to give comfort and to heal. For this reason, Abdominal Examination is one of the first images in Robert’s series and Healing Hands is among his last.