Why I Cant Get a Stubborn Patient Out of My Mind.
This article was originally published by the Boston Globe.
It wasn’t until my own fertility was at risk that I realized the reason a woman in my care resisted a life-saving surgery 10 years ago.
The night Catherine and I met, I was a junior resident on call with the gynecology department, and it was one of those nights.
I was overwhelmed — I had at least three emergencies awaiting me, and my pager was still beeping. One of those calls was Catherine, a pregnant Black woman in her 30s, who had come into the emergency room for pain and vaginal bleeding. An ultrasound showed there was no pregnancy inside the uterus. Instead, we saw a small mass in her fallopian tube — an ectopic pregnancy. The pregnancy would never become a child and could kill Catherine if it continued.
I don’t remember how I broke the news to her. I hope that I was clear but kind. I hope I was deliberate, not condescending. I hope I had the presence of mind to sit down, so that I did not loom over her in my white coat while she lay on her back wearing a worn hospital gown.
Doing nothing would be dangerous, potentially fatal. I am sure I told her that.