Circle of Life

Life is all about beginnings and endings. One of the biggest draws of Obstetrics as a medical specialty is the fascination with the birth process as the beginning of life. The other extreme…well, let’s say in this particular place and time in history, it’s still something that catches people unawares. Too often filled with dread and loathing, we approach the death of patients as a foreshadowing of our own. Why else have we as doctors developed the reputation of squaring off with Death? Beating Him off with tubes and drugs and electricity, “No!” we shriek. “You can’t have this one yet!” Let me share a secret with you: in spite of EMRs, PBMs, PQRSs, insurance companies, malpractice, legislation, and everything else you hear us bitch and moan about, we doctors care for our patients. And I don’t mean just in the sense of providing them with medical services. We care. Over the decades, we come to know these people who have entrusted us with their lives. Some of them…many of them, for those of us who are especially lucky…we come to think of as friends. Friends who allow us the privilege of joining with them along this journey we call life; friends who trust us to do everything we can to keep them plodding along when its not yet their time, and those who trust us to ease their suffering at the end. It’s been an interesting few weeks. Two weeks ago I got one of the most dreaded calls a doctor can get: my patient...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs