Indexing Title: JGGuerra’s Medical Anecdotal Report (05-06) 

Title: “Taking lives, saving lives” 

Date of Observation: June, 2005 

Narration: 

It was almost three o’ clock am that faithful Sunday morning when everyone in Surgery Emergency Room seemed very tired and exhausted. The whole Emergency Room complex was cold as ice. When we are about to retire and steal some time to sleep, I heard a deafening sound of a male voice shouting for help.

 At the corner of my eyes, I saw a fairly young woman, stretcher borne, heading to our department and gasping for breath. I regained my senses and immediately attended to the patient. I took a brief history from the relatives and found out that the patient wanted to end her life by hanging herself. The patient is dead broke when she found out that her live-in partner had an affair with other woman.

The patient came in GCS 5. From the looks in her face, I am pretty sure that she wanted to live. She stared blankly at me as if trying to beg to save her life. Ironically, few minutes prior to this consult, this woman tried to kill herself for nonsense reasons. I felt indifferent that moment. Will I pity her? Will I get mad?

We instituted ventilatory support. By far, the most we can give. I talked with the relatives regarding their patient’s condition and fully explained her prognosis. The live-in partner was running wild and looked like in the verge of nervous breakdown. We calmed him down.

As I walked away from the patient’s room, I heard the relative’s wolf-like-cry. She just had her last breath on earth. I vowed my head, and nodded…

Insights: ( Discovery, Stimulus, Reinforcements / Physical, Psychosocial, Ethical) 

            Saving lives takes years of training. As a physician, one does all he can in his power to help patients get through another day. Understandably, it is disappointing and heartbreaking for any doctor to be faced with someone who would rather take his life than preserve it.

            That morning, when the patient was wheeled in, I could not help but wonder if it would be worth saving the life of a person when she herself could not see  its value. Would we all be wasting our time and effort on a person who was selfish enough to end her life? Without regard about how her death would affect the people around her and all those who would be willing to spend time and resources to make her well again?

            But then, no matter how I am strongly against what she has done, I am still the doctor who has the responsibility to help her through. Realizing that, I attended to her as I normally do to any other patients. Unfortunately though, she died despite our effort. But she died with a reminder that I am still on the other side of the fence, and I was in no position to be upset with what she did. I am the lucky one because unlike her, I am still alive and I value not just my life but all of those around me.

It will always be an honor to help heal and save because no time is being wasted no matter what kind of patient you may take, when you are dealing with lives.