When clinician becomes caregiver: perspectives from the other side

Excerpt

My life was nearly perfect until one spring day when it took a horribly wrong turn. My wife and I had just returned from a scientific conference in Hawaii at the very same site we had honeymooned more than 2 decades before. While in Kauai, we had hiked and enjoyed the surf after the conference. Until then, I felt as though I was generally able to control my situation and that of my family. Serious problems including those of newly diagnosed brain cancer patients and brain and spine trauma patients were entities that I was all too familiar with. While I prided myself on the high quality and compassionate care that I believed my team and I delivered to patients, there was also a degree of separation between me and my patients. Regarding this distance, there simply had to be some ability to not carry all the trials and tribulations of my patients so as to maintain a clinician’s emotional wellness for treating patients with complex and often fatal diseases. …