Clinicians Dealing With Death

A September 27th piece in the New England Journal of Medicine - The Code by Dr Katharine Treadway - has had clinicians talking. It's not necessarily new ground to cover, but Dr. Treadway writes pointedly about dealing with patient death and the coping skill of clinical detachment that comes early medical school training. "We learned to bury our fear of death in an avalanche of knowledge. We learned the trick of silencing the parts of our brain that didn't really want to be this close to death. And for good reason. We could not do what we do — take responsibility for the lives of our patients — if we were aware, minute to minute, of the true significance of what we were actually doing."

Through October 10th the Journal is inviting readers of the piece to share their perspectives on patient death and clinician response. If you have ever wondered about your own response - diassociated or not - get in on this important conversation.