This is not what day one of training is supposed to look like.
 | By Max Strasser |
When the coronavirus pandemic swept through New York last spring, a group of medical school students across the city graduated early from their programs so they could volunteer to join the front lines and help the hospitals under siege. These were young people who had spent years dreaming of — and working toward — becoming doctors. This was not how they expected their first months on the job to go. |
In a Sunday Review essay today, my colleague Emma Goldberg writes about the experiences of two of these doctors: the moments they connected with patients who were being taken off ventilators; the challenges of discussing end-of-life decisions over a multiperson phone call; the times when they realized that there was nothing more they could do to save their patients' lives; their feelings of exhaustion — and pride. |
Over the past year, Emma has been talking constantly to these two doctors and others in their situation, learning about their day-to-day lives in hospitals and at home. The result — this essay and the book from which it's adapted — is a moving first draft of recent history. At a time when it feels like the pandemic may finally be receding in America, Emma's work doesn't let us forget what came before. |
It's also about much more. Emma's reporting shows how hard doctors work — in case you needed a reminder. It exposes how brutal Covid-19 really was in New York City last spring, particularly for the communities of color hit hardest by the virus. It explains how the practice of medicine has been changing, moving away from an assumption that doctors should be treated like unquestionable experts and toward a much-needed human-centric kind of care. |
But at its core, Emma's essay does what all good opinion journalism does: It makes an argument. And the argument here is about self-sacrifice and altruism. The doctors she writes about didn't expect to start their careers this way. They didn't always like their jobs. But they put their calling — to help and to heal — above themselves. That can be a lesson for everyone. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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