Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: End of Life

  • The god that I know

    Rae BrownLexington, Kentucky, USA When we start down the road toward medical school and residency, the idealists among us have a picture of the kind of physicians they will become. Our perception of the future rarely coincides with the reality that we often face. Ideally, principles that conflict with our own view of the world…

  • Time

    Paul RousseauCharleston, South Carolina, United States Selfishly, time is either too short or too long, the moment never appreciated. Mrs. Jones was a 69-year-old female with widely metastatic ovarian cancer, diagnosed during an emergency room visit for abdominal pain. After consultation with an oncologist, she elected to forgo chemotherapy and was referred for palliative care.…

  • Sparing the living

    P. Ravi ShankarLalitpur, Nepal Krishna was dead. I was relaxing on the porch of my quarters next to the primary health center when Krishna’s relatives brought me the news of his demise. Though I was sad, I also felt a sense of relief. Krishna belonged to a poor family of agricultural workers eking out a…

  • Defining Death in Whose Life is it Anyway?

    Morven Cook United Kingdom Death itself is a social construct, and in a pluralistic society such as ours, a conclusive definition of death, or determination of the moment of death, is out of reach of both medical science and philosophy.1 Brian Clark’s Whose Life is it Anyway? is a play that tells the story of Ken,…

  • Do (Not) Attempt

    Mary PanSeattle, Washington, United States I hovered over the patient, looking at him for the first time. It was then I realized he was dead. Lifeless. Pallor without a hint of blush, tubes protruding out of each orifice. This realization stretched out beyond and before me. I was eager and horrified and mesmerized. I was…

  • My tragedy in retrospect

    Mary OsborneChicago, Illinois, United States From a scaffold, neck craned, Michelangelo Buonarroti painted scenes from the book of Genesis, prophets, and sibyls upon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Considering himself a sculptor, he wanted no part of the assignment, but one did not decline a commission from the Pope. Wishing all the while to…

  • Father’s Day on the 12th floor

    Maggie SchwarzNew York City, New York, USA “Are you guys watching basketball? Would anyone mind if I brought my dad in here to watch tennis at 3:30?” It is a rainy Father’s Day in the visitor’s lounge on the twelfth floor of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The few boys occupying the lounge tell me it…

  • Mr. Hemphill

    Lynn DionNew York City, New York, USA Alles wandelt sich. Neu beginnenKannst du mit dem letzten Atemzug.Aber was geschehen, ist geschehen. Und das WasserDas du in den Wein gossest, kannst duNicht mehr herausschütten.Was geschehen, ist geschehen. Das WasserDas du in den Wein gossest, kannst duNicht mehr herausschütten, aberAlles wandelt sich. Neu beginnenKannst du mit dem…

  • Turning points

    Loretta S. DownsChicago, Illinois, USA My mother’s end-of-life was 15 years long. It began the day my father died and she became dependent upon her children to fill the roles he had played throughout their 61-year marriage. We managed relatively well, and her health continued to be good for nearly seven years. By the time…

  • A Christmas party

    Loretta S. DownsChicago, Illinois, USA A war started the day my mother was forced to move into a nursing home. After years of slow progression, the stenosis in her back refused to let her live independently any longer. From the moment she arrived, I spent five days a week trying to help her adjust—hoping she…