doctors cry too

only doctors understand doctors.

the other day i was looking at this particular picture that went viral. it was a photo taken by a paramedic outside the emergency department and in the picture was a doctor who was crying. the story was that the doctor just lost his patient and he could not contain the sadness within him. hence he went outside to cry his lungs out so that no one could see him cry. unfortunately, the whole world saw it.

being human is easy. but being a doctor with a heart can sometimes be tough. at medical school, i was  literally taught not to cry in front of patients or their relatives. i was told that a doctor should not take away the grief of a patient's family by crying too. so they said.

but when a child dies and we are the ones who have to inform the parents of the heartbreaking news, we can't help but to shed a tear or two as well. witnessing the parents literally burst into tears while we stand there with a poker face, is not an easy task. we usually would leave them as quickly as we can to find the nearest empty room. not to go to sleep, but to cry in between the racks. once the tears have dried up, we wash our face and we get back to work as if nothing happened.