Confronting death: Doctors on mortality

(This article is a part of the web-exclusive series from our latest issue 'At the cost of health'. More from the print quarterly here.)

Impending death is never a pleasant subject to mull over. However, it does raise generic concerns about the very nature of our existence and the meaning of it all. Who are we? What do our lives reveal about ourselves at the end of the day? Could we have lived life more meaningfully? What happens after death? Our reveries may lead us to uncertain destinations and we quickly cease concerning ourselves with these thoughts as the quotidian has a manner of imposing itself on the transcendental in more ways than one.

Is this any different for those entrusted with the everyday task of saving lives? Doctors who save lives from fatal illnesses are no strangers to death. One might justifiably assume that this has a numbing facet to it. After all, if they grieve just as much as the families and friends of people lost, they would be paralysed, stuck in prolonged bouts of mourning and inaction. Don't we tend to expect them to go about their regular tasks with a semblance of equanimity? Death appears to be passé in one sense within medical practice as life goes on as one presumes it has to. Arguably, it does not warrant deliberation beyond the immediate existential loss and ruminations of those who may be returning from a funeral of a dear family member or close friend lost.