Other things...

I've been reading this blog written by a South African surgeon. It is well written and he goes into really great detail about entertaining cases that keep you hooked. Its neat to see M.D. perspectives from completely different cultures than my own. It hit me as stories from a typical american hospital, but with odd twists every once in a while that made me think "wait that can't happen here". One example of this came in a story where he treated a woman who was attacked by a hippo. He describes entering a room and being confronted with a bloody mess at which point he notices the patient is severely overweight. He proceeds with the ever so tactful and politically correct comment (in front of the patient AND staff) that went something like this:

"If the hippo is hurt this bad, I don't even want to SEE my patient!"

Ouch.

On a much more serious note, one other post that hit me was this one, where he describes the emotions felt while telling a mother that her child had been killed by a drunk driver. Something I'd hate to have to do, but in all likelihood will if I pursue this career. I actively search for posts that deal with this situation, not out of morbid curiosity, but to see how people do it. I can't imagine having to tell a mother her baby died at birth or a husband that his wife died in surgery.