Doctors aren’t always our favorite people, and after working almost 20 years in healthcare, I can attest to the fact that sometimes that feeling is warranted. However, like all medical professionals, the stresses of the job can take a toll on even the toughest of physicians.
Nurses and doctors alike care for their patients not only on a professional level, but often on a personal one that may not be frequently seen by their patients and family. Many nights are spent sleepless, thinking about the tragic things we’ve witnessed as professionals in the healthcare industry.One picture, captured by an EMT, who would later share the image on social media, shows just how heavy the emotional burden can be on those tasked with caring for the injured and ill. The photo, posted on Reddit early Thursday morning, shows a doctor kneeling outside a California hospital after losing a 19-year-old patient. If the image doesn’t pull at your heartstrings, the comments will.
The man pictured was unable to save one of his patients. Though this is a common occurrence in our field of work, the patients we lose are typically old, sick, or some combination of the two. The patient that died was 19 years old, and for him, it was one of those calls we get sometimes that just hits you,” wrote redditor NickMoore911, according to KHOU. “Within a few minutes, the doctor stepped back inside, holding his head high again.”
The image is heart wrenching and brings the emotional hardships doctors face into reality for healthcare professionals as well as patients and their families. This is shown in the comments that the photo has inspired, such as one comment from a user who stated, “Wow, this really hits home for me. I lost my father earlier last year from an aortic dissection. He started feeling a weird pain in his chest and within an hour he was dead. He was a perfectly healthy 49 year old man. The doctors kept reassuring us that he would be fine. When he died the doctors who were working on him at the UCSD medical center were crushed. I could definitely see it in their eyes. They called my house multiple times throughout the year to see how my family was doing. Doctors do not get the praise they deserve.”The photo is also encouraging others to share their stories from behind the scenes in the medical field, as another user commented, “Blood banker here. So very sorry for your loss. Aortic dissections scare the hell out all of us. I’ve been in cases where we are handing out units of blood as fast as we can…where people will have their blood volumes replaced one, two, three times over and still we can’t keep them going. You’ll probably never see us…you may never know that we exist…but we’re pulling for you and working as hard and as fast as we can to keep you going…and wishing we could do more.”
The commenter’s last line sums up the feelings I and my previous coworkers have had when working the field. We might not show it, we may seem to have it together, but we are pulling for you, working hard and fast, and always wishing we could do more.Healthcare can too often be a thankless job. Our hearts and praise go out to those working so hard to take care of others. From this image, we can all see and recognize the emotional struggle that it can be. Thank you to all doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, and all the support staff that keep our hospitals and healthcare system running. God bless these heroes.