Mr. Valcin and the Fear of Engagement--June 2021

 

Photo by John Carroll–Cite Soleil, 2016

I read a quote 9 years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine called the Fear of Engagement.

Fear of Engagement

“As it turns out, there is no reason to fear engagement. We are not destroyed when patients suffer or die, but rather deepened, becoming better able to open ourselves to the complex lives of the distressed and infirm next time around. Over time, there comes a natural but mysterious adjustment toward equanimity, in which we can hold onto both worlds, that of safety and that of danger, simultaneously, without calamity.”

David Watts, M.D.

New England Journal of Medicine

September 27, 2012

I appreciate these sentences as they relate to physicians….but there was calamity here for Mr. Valcin. He died. And so did precious parts of his family.

And what about next time around? Did we learn anything with this engagement? Did we learn anything from Mr. Valcin’s case?

I would say no. Once again the bureaucracy proved to be invincible and very cold to the distressed and infirm Mr. Valcin.

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org