I watched a birth. More than watched: an hour or so after first meeting the mom-to-be as she lay in her bed in a hospital gown, I was helping her push. I was the one who retrieved her glasses so that she could see her new, perfect baby girl. I might be a footnote in some of the stories she and her husband later tell their family about the day their first child entered the world. I’m probably in some of the photos. But it’s almost certain that I will never see those new parents or their daughter again.
My career will be a series of moments like that. Sharing good news, delivering bad, offering a diagnosis or treatment that may change someone else’s life — and then moving on with my own. I will be present at some of the biggest turning points in my patients’ experience, but I will never really be part of their lives.
Read more of my latest at TIME Healthland: http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/23/the-paradox-of-the-doctor-patient-relationship-a-medical-students-view/#ixzz2XBG4P54R
