Denny Hayes, who spent fifteen years as a chaplain for the ’s critical response team, says:

• Always deliver bad news in person.
• Always bring a partner (“95 percent of them defer to me to do the actual speaking of the words—nobody wants to experience sad”).
• Skip the s—they comfort no one except the person speaking them.
• Never abandon anyone until they have someone else to hold onto.

+ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/06/what-its-like-to-deliver-bad-news-for-a-living/372031/