Treating the Family

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/opinion/doctors-vaccines-patients.html

("Every Doctor Faces This Dilemma")

It was a desperate 26 days as my sister clung to life in the hospital. A time where we searched for hope, for possibility, for a glimmer of light in the darkness that was descending, for a passageway out of the suffocating reality of the moment.

I will never forget the family huddling with doctors in the hallway, just outside my sister's hospital room, day after day. Discussing protocols, options. Searching, always searching for a crack somewhere. Begging for something, anything that could bring my sister relief and a way forward.

In those frightening moments a doctor must be far more than mere medical expert. They have to be, or should be, compassionate and connected. Grief counselor as well as physician. Aware of, and addressing the needs of the family as well as the patient.

In my sister's case, there were no answers that would halt the inevitable. Our family was grateful that eventually she was able to come home, where she so wanted to be, before passing away. Grateful for the efforts of her doctors and nurses. Grateful, maybe most of all, for their humanity and understanding during those terrible, terrible 26 days.

For though they could not heal the patient, those entrusted with my sister's care could treat the broken hearts of all of us who so deeply loved her.