Physicians face difficult decisions every day, and some of the results of these decisions leave their marks long after the patient has been treated. One physician recently shared his feelings around some tough choices—and how those choices made him a better doctor.
William Lynn Weaver, MD, senior associate dean at Ross University School of Medicine Dominica campus, told a story about a very sick patient he helped during the AMA’s recent Inspirations in Medicine event.
The patient’s small intestines were dead, and he later lost the pulse in both his legs. Dr. Weaver did his best but still felt he had failed the man after having to amputate the patient’s legs and remove a large portion of his intestines.
“I have a patient who walked into the hospital, and who now has no intestines and no legs,” Dr. Weaver said. “What had I done? I had not done what I had trained to be, which was compassionate and caring.”
Seeking to ease his conscious, Dr. Weaver went to the patient’s room late one night. He wondered if he had really helped the patient at all.
“The patient said, ‘Dr. Weaver, I am so glad you did not let me die,’” Dr. Weaver said. “’What you have done for me is that you have given me what everybody wants—just a little more time to say what I did not say or do before.’”
“I realized I had failed to do what I thought was the most important thing—to save his life or make him better,” Dr. Weaver said. “But what I had done was to give some peace to him and his family.”
Get inspired: Watch this Inspirations in Medicine video and others on the AMA’s YouTube channel.
