Tag: death and dying

Samia A. Ali (1 Posts)

Samia is a medical student at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science in Los Angeles, California. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Physiology from the University of Washington, with minors in bioethics and humanities. Deeply committed to global medicine and refugee health, Samia is driven by an interest in caring for displaced and underserved populations and addressing health inequities across borders. She aspires to pursue a career in cardiology with a focus on global and refugee health. Outside of medicine, she enjoys walking and hiking, cycling, and exploring new food spots.




Supply List: What Honoring Those Who Passed Taught Me About Respecting the Living

Published by Samia A. Ali

It began with a list. Not of medication or interventions, but of what we needed to prepare my grandmother for burial. In the seven-by-ten-foot room tucked behind the prayer hall, there were no beeping monitors, and no nurses rushing to check vitals. Instead, bathroom tiles were beneath our feet, a floor drain at the center and a shelf filled with supplies. I could hear the faucet dripping in the back, almost rhythmic, like a slow …

Skipping Stones

Published by Kristen Anderson

“You’re thinking about it all wrong,” my fiancé said. His voice poured from the phone like a warm cup of tea, steeped in the miles that stretched between us. “You still think you can be a savior, when really you’re a vessel. If you’re alone and giving someone CPR and they die, you can’t ask yourself if they would’ve lived by someone’s more experienced hands, because it was always going to be you. You were …

Dead or Alive: A Student’s Experience

Published by Kenneth Lopez

“That doesn’t happen often,” I quietly but excitedly say to myself while discussing our consult from the PICU. My attending hesitates, pondering the precarious balance between encouraging my medical curiosity and protecting me from the horrors of child abuse and mistreatment that still haunt her to this day. That day, I was a first-hand witness to the necessary but horrible clinical task of a brain death exam. This task is a rite of passage for …

A Little Magic

Published by Maxwell Wilberding

“Patient is a 34-year-old male with a nine-month history of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease who is currently being treated with mycophenolate and rituximab. He remains on high-flow nasal cannula with oxygen saturations of 84-87% overnight. Transplant team signed off as the patient did not qualify for transplant. He reports feeling well this morning and that he learned a great new magic trick with a disappearing card.”

Natalie Mesa (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine

Natalie Mesa is a medical student at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, Florida, Class of 2025. In 2019, she graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science in biology and natural and applied sciences with a minor in psychology. She graduated from the Honors College and Summa cum laude. She enjoys running, traveling and reading in her free time. After graduating medical school, Natalie would like to pursue a career in General Surgery.