Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

When medicine surrenders to the body

Eleanor Tanno, MD
Physician
August 25, 2022
61 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

I still get chills thinking about the moment I decided to go to medical school. I was bored in my college physiology class, watching the minute hand on the round lecture hall clock.

There were just a few minutes remaining in the class, and students were starting to pack up. The professor, Dr. Adams, said, “I want to talk about hemorrhage before you go.” His voice was getting lost in the clatter of shuffling papers and closing zippers, but he kept lecturing. “When there is a trauma, and someone is bleeding out, the blood vessels in the extremities constrict to maintain blood flow to the most vital organs — the brain and the heart.”

Something in me froze. Time seemed to stop. Despite the noise, I could hear nothing but his crisp voice at that moment.

You see, I had fallen in love.

The beauty of the human body took my breath away. Up until that moment, I had been studying to become a biomedical engineer. I had spent my entire college education learning how to simply replicate body systems. After all, one of the ultimate goals was to learn how to grow organs and tissues in a lab.

But hearing my professor’s voice, I realized the body is too sophisticated to be replicated. It is our most — the most — magnificent tool. Our organs work in harmony like the instruments of a symphony. Each knows its place and how to work as a team. Even in the catastrophic situation of hemorrhage, the vessels in the extremities know to continue to work to feed the most sacred organs. We could never come close to copying its seemingly intelligent design in a lab.

We each get only one body, and it is an extraordinary tool. I suddenly lusted to learn everything about it.

I had my work cut out for me: I was going to go to medical school.

Fast forward seven years when I graduated from medical school. I was in the first year of my residency, standing in scrubs in the intensive care unit.

However, during just the first few days of my time in the ICU, there was a seismic shift in my admiration for medicine.

I was looking despondently at a body that was being kept alive with machines. It seemed that every orifice had a tube in it. Some extra holes had even been made for the overflow catheters to be inserted. Despite all the life support, this person was not going to live. And we all knew it. But here we were, marching to the end — no sight of surrender. The machines beeped, the little lights flashed, and we plowed on.

The field of medicine can perform miracles at times. We have life-supporting machines that can breathe for our lungs, filter blood for our kidneys and support the blood vessels when the whole network is collapsing.

In this patient’s case, life support was acting as a scaffold, but this body was still crumbling under the weight of age and sickness. All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men could not save this patient.

The body is a beautiful and almost godly tool. But there comes a time when a body cannot be saved in all of its might and with all the advances in modern medicine. It is at this time we need to know when to stop fighting in a battle that will not be victorious. This is not giving up. It is understood that every tool has its limits.

Just as no one wants to see a superhero bent over and bloody in a losing fight with a villain, no family members should have to see a loved one’s body have its last breath on a ventilator.

I went into medicine to save the body, just to learn sometimes we need to let it die. When it becomes clear that it will not recover despite its splendor, the most respectful thing to do is to allow the body to concede on its own terms.

Too many times in medicine, we avoid these honest conversations with the families of critically ill patients. There often is a point in a patient’s care when we should be saying, “The end is very near. How would your loved one want to spend their last days of life? With tubes and machines to the last second? Or machine-free and family at the bedside?”

We avoid these conversations because, many times, it is easier to charge on. When a person will not survive the hospitalization anyway, it is emotionally easier to continue with life support until utter defeat. This is due to various reasons — fear of malpractice, wanting to “do everything” and expectations from the patient’s family members.

However, the main driver is that this conversation makes everyone uncomfortable. It is easier just to let the science fail and throw our hands up at the end.

But we owe this ace card to the body. When all of the medicine cannot help anymore, we need to give the gift of a peaceful death back to the body. At that moment, it is time to remove the life support and all the scaffolding and allow the body to concede on its own terms. We owe it to this magnificent tool to rest its own case.

Eleanor Tanno is a family medicine physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Improving communication requires tough soft skill development

August 25, 2022 Kevin 0
…
Next

As we get older and the world changes, it's not always an easy task to say "where"

August 25, 2022 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Critical Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Improving communication requires tough soft skill development
Next Post >
As we get older and the world changes, it's not always an easy task to say "where"

Related Posts

  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • How social media can advance humanism in medicine

    Pooja Lakshmin, MD
  • Why academic medicine needs to value physician contributions to online platforms

    Ariela L. Marshall, MD
  • More physician responsibility for patient care

    Michael R. McGuire
  • Street medicine: You don’t know about it, but you don’t care to

    Ti Hoang
  • Health care needs more physician CEOs

    Alexi Nazem, MD

More in Physician

  • Why allowing yourself to embrace discomfort is necessary for personal growth

    Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD
  • Unconventional health care, flawed studies, and biases: Navigating the complexities for optimal well-being

    Kara Wada, MD
  • Finding your ideal work-life balance: tips for prioritizing personal life and achieving professional success

    Zahid Awan, MD
  • Boxing legends Tyson and Foreman: powerful lessons for a resilient and evolving health care future

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • 7 ways to beat burnout: a guide for health care professionals to reduce stress and reclaim their passion

    Marie Livesey, DO
  • Heartwarming stories of cancer patients teaching us about life and the human spirit

    Johnathan Yao, MD, MPH
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why affirmative action is crucial for health equity and social justice in medicine

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Policy
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • The power of coaching for physicians: transforming thoughts, changing lives

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • Physician entrepreneurs offer hope for burned out doctors

      Cindy Rubin, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors aren’t to blame for the U.S. opioid crisis [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Unlocking the secrets of cancer conferences: an end-of-life counselor’s journey among pharmaceutical giants

      Althea Halchuck, EJD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Breaking point: the 5 reasons American doctors are dreaming of walking away from medicine

      Amol Shrikhande, MD | Physician
    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure

      Mark Sullivan, MD and Jane Ballantyne, MD | Conditions
    • Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout

      Chandravadan Patel, MD | Physician
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • A pediatrician’s journey into integrative medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why allowing yourself to embrace discomfort is necessary for personal growth

      Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD | Physician
    • Unconventional health care, flawed studies, and biases: Navigating the complexities for optimal well-being

      Kara Wada, MD | Physician
    • Urgent innovation needed to address growing mental health crisis among children and families

      Monika Roots, MD | Conditions
    • The importance of listening in health care: a mother’s journey advocating for children with chronic Lyme disease

      Cheryl Lazarus | Conditions
    • Medical errors and the power of apologies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • UnitedHealthcare in the Hot Seat Over GI Procedure 'Advance Notification' Policy
  • Genetic Risk Score Predicts Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy
  • FDA Warns on Certain Forms of Compounded Semaglutide
  • Fired COVID Whistleblower Doesn't Want to Settle His Case
  • Video of ACOG Presenter Being Slapped Goes Viral

Meeting Coverage

  • TAR-200 Led to High Complete Response Rates in BCG-Unresponsive Bladder Cancer
  • More Success for CAR T-Cell Therapy in Rheumatic Disease
  • Trial Shows RA Can Be Stopped at Preclinical Stage
  • Tenapanor Improves Abdominal Symptoms in Patients With IBS-C
  • Benefits Found for Hand OA Drug Treatments
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why affirmative action is crucial for health equity and social justice in medicine

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Policy
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • The power of coaching for physicians: transforming thoughts, changing lives

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • Physician entrepreneurs offer hope for burned out doctors

      Cindy Rubin, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors aren’t to blame for the U.S. opioid crisis [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Unlocking the secrets of cancer conferences: an end-of-life counselor’s journey among pharmaceutical giants

      Althea Halchuck, EJD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Breaking point: the 5 reasons American doctors are dreaming of walking away from medicine

      Amol Shrikhande, MD | Physician
    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure

      Mark Sullivan, MD and Jane Ballantyne, MD | Conditions
    • Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout

      Chandravadan Patel, MD | Physician
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • A pediatrician’s journey into integrative medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why allowing yourself to embrace discomfort is necessary for personal growth

      Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD | Physician
    • Unconventional health care, flawed studies, and biases: Navigating the complexities for optimal well-being

      Kara Wada, MD | Physician
    • Urgent innovation needed to address growing mental health crisis among children and families

      Monika Roots, MD | Conditions
    • The importance of listening in health care: a mother’s journey advocating for children with chronic Lyme disease

      Cheryl Lazarus | Conditions
    • Medical errors and the power of apologies [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...