REFLECTION ON MORTALITY

People often comment about how close we are to death, as healthcare professionals. When I first started into medicine, I assumed that that constant exposure would make death easier to deal with- whether myself or those close to me. I thought it would be like exposure therapy in psychology, overcoming fear by incremental, gradual introduction.

Instead, it has done the opposite. My experience in medicine has made me feel infinitely more removed from death; paradoxically, because it is so routine. The problem is that I've been conditioned to assume that it's never me or my family. Death is always in the controlled environment of a hospital, and it's usually not unexpected or sudden.  I guess my mind has developed this corollary that if my family isn't in a hospital, then they are immune to death (but when I hear someone close to me has been taken to the hospital, I am immediately overcome with anxiety).

I'm always surprised to hear from others that a death was unexpected (of course there are exceptions, like a car accident)....