Being a midwife was the most powerful preparation I had for being an excellent doctor. (Sort of like all I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten.) Perhaps where it prepared me most, aside from the mama and baby care, was actually in palliative care -- talking with and helping patients accept, plan for, integrate and prepare for death. It's in the caring, in the truth telling, in the space holding, love giving, touch generous, compassionate listening ability to openly and authentically talk with another human being about the hardest part of life we face. This article came to me yesterday. It's not the cheeriest topic -- it is about death. But it is a powerful piece about how doctors die -- with much less intervention than most other people -- often at home, no heroics. It's a tale of how birth can be, death should be in most instances, and perhaps how we can reframe medicine into something about compassionate humanity. 


http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/read/nexus/