Where Would You Want To Die?

“It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

-Abraham Lincoln

🫀 Pulse Check

In class this week, our professor asked us to close our eyes and picture where we’d want to spend our final days. Not from a clinical perspective, just as a normal human being.

My mind was racing. I never really thought about such a scenario. I mean, no one really likes to talk about death until it becomes extremely pertinent.

Even so, I immediately thought of a beautiful home on the countryside. I’d be in an open room with windows cracked just enough to let the breeze in. The sun would be setting and there would be a porch outside with two rocking chairs. Dave Matthews Band would be playing in the background. My girlfriend beside me. My family and close friends nearby. It felt peaceful. Simple.

Then she had us open our eyes…

We opened our eyes to an image on the board of an ICU room.

My heart sank…

She told us that as of currently, more people are dying in ICUs than anywhere else in the country. And while people are living longer thanks to medicine, but many are spending those years with a poorer quality of life.

Patients are being kept alive by machines, medications, and procedures, not necessarily by choice, but because we often don’t have the conversations early enough about how people want to live and die.

It hit me hard.

I’ve always believed in the power of an active lifestyle, prevention, and holistic health. But this reminded me how important it is, as a future PA, to honor not just lifespan, but quality of life.

Advancements in medicine are modern miracles and I’m extremely excited that my career is centered around this practice. Yet, I also know that the patients that will be coming through my door are human beings with real thoughts, memories, and experiences, just like me.

I think that thought is a step in the right direction towards becoming a well-rounded clinician (and person).

Be well + Keep Pluggin.

-C.