Doctors must decide if suffering will soften them, or harden them

Dr. Kristen Collier is known to many in the Canadian Physicians for Life network. She was a faculty member for a CPL bioethics symposium and a recent keynote speaker at our annual conference.

During a past address that she gave at the Michigan Medical School White Coat Ceremony, Dr. Collier said, “The suffering you’ll see as a physician can either harden you and make you into a burned-out machine, or you can allow the vocation to soften you. It can help you cultivate compassion, love, justice, and mercy.”

In Canada, unfortunately, our medical system is leading too many doctors to become burned-out machines.

This was evident in the shocking story of Normand Meunier. He was stuck on a stretcher for four days in an ER in Quebec. As a quadriplegic, he needed a special mattress that relieves pressure points so that his skin would not deteriorate. Because he was left on an unsuitable stretcher for four days, Mr. Meunier developed a terrible bed sore to the extent that his muscle tissue and bone were exposed. He asked to die by euthanasia.

In addressing the case of Mr. Meunier, Dr. John Neary posted recently on X:

Still a bit surprised that all of the coverage of the Normand Meunier story seems to presume that no one had any agency over the fact that he spent 95 hours on a stretcher in the Emergency Department.

From a systems perspective, someone could (and should) have made a principled decision that patients at extremely high risk of pressure ulcers (like Mr. Meunier) would move upstairs ahead of the usual queue.

But the people on the ground also had agency. Did the doctors and nurses call bed allocation to ask for him to be prioritized for a bed? What about the manager? Did anyone try to advocate in real time?

Like this is basic stuff. You cannot, as a health professional, have a tetraplegic patient on an Emergency Department stretch for 95 hours and not feel a duty to advocate for something to be done.

When I hear stories like this, it helps me to reflect on my own personal responsibility to see and advocate for the most vulnerable. And, it also reminds me how important it is to reflect on the suffering I see around me in order to “cultivate compassion, love, justice and mercy.”

One of the best ways to do this for yourself and those you serve is to join us at this year’s CPL conference in Vancouver this October. The theme is We Belong to One Another.

Together during the conference we will explore how the challenges of belonging and community pertain to the sphere and aims of medicine.

Be sure to use the coupon code EARLYBIRD2024 for 20 per cent off if you register by May 31. For more information and registration details, visit learn.physiciansforlife.ca/courses/cpl-conference-2024.

Nicole Scheidl is executive director of Canadian Physicians for Life.