This comment is by El Bearsidente on the post Heart-Wrenching Photo of Doctor Crying Goes Viral. Here’s Why.
“In medicine, crying is unprofessional. That needs to change—now.”
Disagree completely. Crying afterwards is fine, nobody will come after you.
But during an emergency? During doing your job? No.
I used to be a voluntary EMT for 20 years. We used to watch each other for tears. Tears during the “mission” mean you become emotionally attached. Becoming emotionally attached means you will make mistakes. Mistakes mean people die.
Cry when the crisis is over. If you cry during the crisis, I will personally kick your butt off the site of the crisis, because you will endanger our patients and I will not have that on my watch.
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Photo: MilitaryHealth/Flickr
You can’t “disagree completely” and then agree situationally – “afterwards is fine” – on a single topic. It’s like saying, “chocolate is disgusting, except when it’s delicious.” *head explodes* Incidentally, I agree with most of your argument; that in medicine, as well as any other profession where lives are at stake and mistakes can be fatal, there is an appropriate time and place for emotion. I’m mostly just giving you a hard time because the subheading you responded to was followed by an account of the exact circumstances that YOU deemed acceptable for a medical professional – AFTER the doctor… Read more »