Time and Tact

I remember walking down the hallways of the hospital and seeing so many people just sitting in their hospital beds with maybe one or two people by their bed.  How are there so many sick people in the world?  It was rather humorous that when I arrived at my dad's room, he would always have at least two or three people by his bed visiting.  When he was in UCLA, you would have to call in in order to go to his room because he was in ICU and all the nurses not only knew my dad's case in and out but also knew the fact that he had so many visitors and people who cared for him. The head doctors would check up on my dad every so often and I remember when the head surgeon was telling him that he would try to fit my dad's surgery into his schedule - right in between a transplant and an emergency case.  To me it seems as though doctors either have a lot of time for themselves or no time at all.  Many of my parents' close friends are doctors yet they still are able to spend a lot of time with us.  It is possibly because they have already been in their fields for quite some time but I'm not sure.  I know I want to help people get better, but I also know that I do not want to be swamped with an incredible amount of work. 
Another thing that I worry about is bedside manners.  Recently, I was talking with one of my father's friends and he was telling me about how his brother had to have his pancreas removed.  The doctors had pulled him (the friend) and his mother out of the room during the surgery to tell them that the brother would not make it - although he has been alive now for over twenty years.  How are you supposed to have any tact in saying something like that?  When my dad was going through all that was happening to him, one of the doctors had absolutely no tact with his bedside manners.  As they were carting my dad off to one of his procedures, one of the first things the doctor bluntly told us was: "He may die".  Sure we want to know all the possible side effects but to say it that bluntly and without any sympathy was just horrible.  Needless to say we were all in tears and stressed out of our minds.  How do you prevent that?  Being a doctor you affect so many peoples' lives, not just the patients but also their families and friends.