LogFAQs > #968348964

gunplagirl posted...

How do you wash the smell of death off? Not like, what you wash with. But rather, how can you go home knowing what you've seen and knowing you'll be right back at it over and over. How do you keep that from lingering on you?

Death happens to all of us whether we like it or not. Most people only really experience death up close when their family or loved ones pass away, either naturally or by accident, so it can be pretty traumatic and jarring. When you work in the ER/ICU/Ambulance etc... you see it all; traumatic deaths, peaceful ones, sudden, abrupt and sad ones. It's all part of the circle of life and death is as much a part of medicine as any other aspect.

I feel like I am actually helping this group of patients more than I did in any other part of medicine I've been in. I am making their final days on earth comfortable and they aren't dying in in pain or agony, and usually with their loved ones around them. Of course it's sad to see someone pass away that you've been following for months and got to know them well, but I know that I helped them be comfortable and I can sleep well at night with that. I couldn't sleep well when I had to tell the families of a 45 year old father that COVID has ravaged his body and he wouldn't survive off the ventilator and there's nothing more we could do. He didn't die comfortably or with dignity, he was unconscious from sedation and couldn't say his final goodbyes.