Recently, i had a patient die on me. This is often happens to me, almost daily. But this one was different, it was a fast inevitable death in an otherwise healthy looking lady.
She was an elderly woman who came in with a deadly condition called septic shock. She died a few hours after being admitted. Her condition was already deadly when she arrived but to the family it looked like minor gastroenteritis. I had the difficult task of giving supportive treatment until we reached the children and getting them to accept her death as inevitable before she actually died. It is easier this way, to deal with the loss when you are prepared for it. It is quite difficult to let go of a loved one if you thought she only had a minor gastroenteritis… when in reality, she had peritonitis that was considered terminal and inoperable. I had barely an hour or so to help the family members understand her true condition, accept her death and stop treatments because it would only prolong her suffering and delay the inevitable.
In the end, with a lot of empathy and a good heart, i was able to succeed. We stopped the treatments and she died peacefully holding her daughter’s hand.
Our job is mainly about alleviating suffering. Sometimes it means saving a life. Sometimes it means letting go. When we concentrate on treating pain and when we try to understand the suffering, we are never wrong…
Originally posted on Facebook, Nov 17, 2011
Martin Pham Dinh 