Last and First Days
Was it a fall? Did I miss the last step? These things I cannot recall / Hidden from sight, the blood crept from one lone vessel and began to compress / Nice to meet you, one medical student said, as he unzipped my sheath
Tag: death and dying
Contributing Writer
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Sal is an M1 at Chicago Medical School where he also serves as the Benevolent Overload of The Medical Humanities Club. In his spare time he works in the Resuscitation Institute at the University.
A soccer coach once told Sal, "you are pretty agile for your body type." The description was overwhelmingly accurate.
“You Don’t Know How I’m Feeling”: A Plea for Death with Dignity
“That’s rubbish.” My new friend — I’ll call her Sylvia — lay supine on her bed, staring bleary-eyed at the ceiling. White bedsheets swathed her long, gaunt limbs, and her sickly pallor startled me.
Hyperammonemia
Hepatic failure claimed him mentally, / And colored yellow both his eyes so wide / As too his being stained corporally.
A Privilege to Chore
The many tables corral him, / All the people surround him, / A trained doctor he is not, / Giving up, he hasn’t thought.
Prognosis
Before long, I will become, to my patients, a keeper of time. With my long white coat will come the privilege of speaking to a patient who is learning what it means to have limited time left.
Death
Dan and I mimicked ducklings as we followed our senior resident, Tassia, single file down the stairs on our way back to the resident room. As we neared the bottom, we crossed paths with another medicine resident leading two medical students playing the same roles as Dan and I.
Hummingbird
“I used to be an elementary school art teacher in San Francisco.” The more he smiled and the more he spoke, the larger the lump grew in my throat. He wore a grayed t-shirt that matched his unkempt black beard.
No Emergency Contacts
I found them for you. / Your blonde little girls who grew into women / Then grew apart from you. / I found them.
What is Hospice, Really?
To physicians, hospice frequently symbolizes defeat. Referring a patient to hospice care can feel like admitting that disease has defeated years of training. In medical school, we are trained that the role of the doctor is to fight the disease and find the cure.
“Everybody Stop”: Between Life and Death in the Trauma Bay
At 7:21 p.m., I arrive at the hospital for the first overnight shift of my medical career. It’s not a great start — the bus was late, and I didn’t sleep nearly enough this afternoon in preparation for the night ahead.
The Line Between Life and Death Isn’t a Line at All
Tears hold onto the ledges of her eyes. As the physician and I approach, a quivering begins. It emerges at the jaw, a flutter running across her lips, only to drop onto her shoulders and envelop her hands.
Medical Aid in Dying: What My Dog Taught Me
He was sick, but it wasn’t like he was going to die anytime soon. A year ago, my dog Sierra sustained a neurological insult that left him delirious, unable to walk straight and almost entirely blind and deaf.
Contributing Writer
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
I am a Philadelphia native and a medical student at Thomas Jefferson University class of 2018. I have interests in health systems, policy and population health. Through my training, I have witnessed how we deliver care under our current medical system. I enjoy exploring ways in which we, as future doctors, can make positive change. In my free time I enjoy the outdoors, playing music and eating good food with friends.