deux fils proches

21:36 Aug 12, 2016 

Dear Barbara I understand what you mean and I share your views obviously.

I am just telling you -because I am French, I live in France, my ex-wife is a GP and because of the issues with my mother- that here the docs check who is available (and obviously lives not too far) because if not they may decide to involve the free healthcare system we have here to find a room in a clinic, an hospital or whatever structure is available, not to mention the possibility of finding people visiting the person at her home to ensure proper care is made available.
So I'm telling you they want to know if a relative is available and willing to support. Now you do what you want with this :-)

20:56 Aug 12, 2016 

Mostly, there is a social expectation that children, who, yes, live close by, will take care of, at least, the physical needs of their immediate family members, which is what is meant here.

So, society, in general, considers it a familial duty, as long as the infirm has no need to go to a skilled nursing facility, and the children who live nearby are expected, by society, to take on that job.

That only makes logical sense, anyway, especially if any of the other siblings live hundreds or thousands of miles away from their infirm parent.

I think duty can, however, be tied in with love, and in other instances, passion for a cause.

That is to say, tied in to what is considered to be moral, even if no love or compassion, on the part of the children or child, is actually involved.

So, in some cases, exercising one's duty has to do with nothing more than what society considers to be the moral thing.

I have a very high-functioning 92-year old mother who, yes lives nearby. We are very different kinds of people, but if she calls for my help, which she rarely does, I do what she asks me to, because to not do it, would show a lack of concern for her needs and well-being.

20:32 Aug 12, 2016 

Dear BarbaraI had a quick smile while reading your answer.
In France (this is not the US) one can be living next door to his father and never ever give him any help. In real life here this "duty"is just a joke. I have no duty to support my father if I don't want to. Do you think they are going to put me in jail? Well it's gonna be counter-productive anyway. the duty exists in the books but it is vastly limited to money. If my parents owe money to somebody I might have to pay for this, but that's about it.
My mother is really ill, the doctor made sure with me I will support her, visit her... He didn't even told me I had a duty.

19:35 Aug 12, 2016 

Is that the patient has children who live close by to where he does, so they can lend him support, in relation to his physical issues.

The medical personnel aren't really interested in whether he has a close bond with his children. In fact, the children might not and are only helping him out of their duty as his children, and they can only do that, on a consistent basis, if they live close by,

That's what the kind of medical professional quoted in this excerpt would be interested in.

It's primarily psychologists and psychotherapists who are interested in "close bonds."

19:05 Aug 12, 2016 

At the risk of being pedantic - to my ear "2 sons who are close" means that they have a bond with each other. "2 sons who are close to him" sounds better IMO.

14:22 Aug 12, 2016 

@Nikki I'm with you, I was not sure about the "proper wording" but yes it makes a lot of sense.
Bon ouik :-)

13:52 Aug 12, 2016 

We all see 2 possible meanings here. It is impossible to know which is meant and we each probably lean in favour of one or the other. But in fact, there's no problem here: it is perfectly possible to mimic the ambiguity of the French and bingo, Bob's yer uncle!

"2 sons who are close".

Merci, bonne aprem!

09:48 Aug 12, 2016 

I agree with your explanation. Maybe "supportive" would be appropriate here?

22:05 Aug 11, 2016 

@asker/Barbara
Proche en fr -comme en anglais- peut signifier "intime" (un ami proche, un proche) et "a faible distance" (la maison proche de la route).
Dans un contexte médical les soignants ont besoin de savoir si le patient peut compter sur un support il faut donc traduire ce "proche" par close, ou un autre mot plus approprié dans le contexte. J'aurais traduit par "close sons" mais je ne suis pas sûr de cette expression donc je me suis abstenu.
Si toutefois les médecins avaient voulu exprimer la distance, et pour lever l'ambiguité ils auraient écrit "à proximité" ce qui ne leur est d'aucune utilité médicale en fait...

20:23 Aug 11, 2016 

he's got 2 sons close to him... meaning their care for him (close like in close friends) probably they live not too far from his place too and they can visit him, help and somehow support him too.
The term is quite vague about a specific meaning but unambiguously clear about the potential support.