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Very interesting interview at UTMB Galveston about "hope" and after-life. More of a lecture, really.
Note: It's LONG so tl;dr at end
Starts out with10 minutes or so of "tell me about yourself". Then,
Weird part
Obviously, this is from memory so it's not exact but, if anything, I am doing injustice to the interviewer's (Dr. J) storytelling ability...
Interviewer:"I'm going to ask you a question. For this question, I'm going to make some assumptions. I'm going to assume that you have completed your medical education, residency, etc. You are a certified doctor. You work at a hospital.
You're in a hospital room alone with a dying man laying on his bed. Everything possible has been done to save this man's life but in vain. He WILL die before you leave that room and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Now, you are standing by his side. You have already done all the standard procedures and practices for telling someone that they are about to die. You said all the things you are supposed to say that you learned from education and experience.
As you are about to leave the room, the man reaches out, grabs your white coat and whispers with the little voice and energy he has left, "Doctor, can you give me any hope?"
Now... Can YOU give this man hope?"
Me: 😱 "uh, well... how exactly do you mean?" (hoping to get some hint of what he's expecting...)
Interviewer: "Well... what is hope? Hope is the anticipation of a positive outcome in the future. Correct?"
Me: Mmhm *nod*
And, before I could even finish acknowledging him,
Interviewer:"So, for example, when you leave your house to go buy groceries, you HOPE that you will make it safely to your destination. You are anticipating that you will arrive at your destination safely and finish your task. In this case, buying groceries. Or, for example, when you cross the road, you anticipate that you will reach the other side safely"
He then offered several more ******edly obvious examples which I don't fully recall. I can only remember the grocery and street-crossing.
Essentially, he continued to lecture me about hope and made it very clear verbally and non-verbally what he was shooting for: he drew an imaginary line on the desk with his finger and pointed out the beginning of the line as the beginning of one's life and the end of the line as one's death. Then, he said that as one moves forward in life, linearly from the starting point, one HOPES for things in the FUTURE (that are further ahead on this line).
Now, coming back to this hypothetical dying man scenario, he said that the dying man is pretty much at the end of this line: he's about to die. So far, Dr. J pointed out that hope is "anticipation of a positive outcome in the future" and that this man is at the end of the line.
"Can you give this man hope?"
Me: "Based on what you've told me so far, I assume you are alluding to my beliefs on the after-life (or after-death, I guess)."
I don't know for sure what happens after we die but I'm reasonably convinced that nothing much happens: you cease to exist and, this, your brain and it's thoughts, feelings, and emotions cease to exist. Your sentience is no more. You are forever gone.
So, I explained to Dr. J that I don't believe in any of the current theories of after-life and that, from a scientific perspective, it is impossible (and I guess irrelevant) to know.
"Therefore, I cannot offer the man any hope for life after death because I am not sure about what happens after we die and I don't want to lie to my patient."
Interviewer: "If you aren't sure, you obviously cannot give the man hope because that would be false hope. I was at a convention once about caring for patients about to die. There were scientists, doctors, clergy people, and people from just about all related professions. I went there and asked them this same question and not a single of them could answer me and surprisingly, most of them did not want to talk about when pressed further. As a physician, you offer hope. You are in the business of giving hope. You give a pill to a patient, you give them hope that their sickness will go away. You are not a complete physician unless you can give that dying man hope. Now of all the people at this convention, not a single one could answer my simple question. Yet, I have a friend. He's not a very smart man. He pumps gas at a gas station for a living in a little town. If I brought him into the dying man's room, he would be able to offer the man some hope.
Now... Can you give this man hope? Just think about that and that's all the time we have for this interview. Do you have any questions for me?"
Me: "... how would you give the man hope?"
Interviewer: *pensive look* "Come see me when you're in medical school and I'll let you know"
At this point, he might as well have put on sunglasses, taken them off, and played CSI music...
So I shook hands, still jolted, "Thank you Dr. J, I'll be taking you up on your offer real soon" and GTFO.
Also, the lecture was generously laden with rhetorical questions:
Interviewer: "... and do you know what they said?"
Me: "... what?"
Interviewer: "BLABLABLA"
I feel like I missed some details but the crazy part of the interview/lecture lasted for a good 25-30 minutes.
tl;dr Dr. J wanted to know if I can give a dying man hope. Hope about the after-life, that is (he didn't explicitly state this but he was implying is pretty damn hard). He lectured me about what hope is, how his simple friend who pumps gas for a living can give hope about after-life but so many doctors, scientists, etc. cannot. When I asked him about whether he could give hope in the same scenario he told me to come see him after I get into med-school.
I still don't know what to think of this interview or how I "should have" answered it (best possibly answer?)
What do you make of it?
Note: It's LONG so tl;dr at end
Starts out with10 minutes or so of "tell me about yourself". Then,
Weird part
Obviously, this is from memory so it's not exact but, if anything, I am doing injustice to the interviewer's (Dr. J) storytelling ability...
Interviewer:"I'm going to ask you a question. For this question, I'm going to make some assumptions. I'm going to assume that you have completed your medical education, residency, etc. You are a certified doctor. You work at a hospital.
You're in a hospital room alone with a dying man laying on his bed. Everything possible has been done to save this man's life but in vain. He WILL die before you leave that room and there is nothing you can do to change that.
Now, you are standing by his side. You have already done all the standard procedures and practices for telling someone that they are about to die. You said all the things you are supposed to say that you learned from education and experience.
As you are about to leave the room, the man reaches out, grabs your white coat and whispers with the little voice and energy he has left, "Doctor, can you give me any hope?"
Now... Can YOU give this man hope?"
Me: 😱 "uh, well... how exactly do you mean?" (hoping to get some hint of what he's expecting...)
Interviewer: "Well... what is hope? Hope is the anticipation of a positive outcome in the future. Correct?"
Me: Mmhm *nod*
And, before I could even finish acknowledging him,
Interviewer:"So, for example, when you leave your house to go buy groceries, you HOPE that you will make it safely to your destination. You are anticipating that you will arrive at your destination safely and finish your task. In this case, buying groceries. Or, for example, when you cross the road, you anticipate that you will reach the other side safely"
He then offered several more ******edly obvious examples which I don't fully recall. I can only remember the grocery and street-crossing.
Essentially, he continued to lecture me about hope and made it very clear verbally and non-verbally what he was shooting for: he drew an imaginary line on the desk with his finger and pointed out the beginning of the line as the beginning of one's life and the end of the line as one's death. Then, he said that as one moves forward in life, linearly from the starting point, one HOPES for things in the FUTURE (that are further ahead on this line).
Now, coming back to this hypothetical dying man scenario, he said that the dying man is pretty much at the end of this line: he's about to die. So far, Dr. J pointed out that hope is "anticipation of a positive outcome in the future" and that this man is at the end of the line.
"Can you give this man hope?"
Me: "Based on what you've told me so far, I assume you are alluding to my beliefs on the after-life (or after-death, I guess)."
I don't know for sure what happens after we die but I'm reasonably convinced that nothing much happens: you cease to exist and, this, your brain and it's thoughts, feelings, and emotions cease to exist. Your sentience is no more. You are forever gone.
So, I explained to Dr. J that I don't believe in any of the current theories of after-life and that, from a scientific perspective, it is impossible (and I guess irrelevant) to know.
"Therefore, I cannot offer the man any hope for life after death because I am not sure about what happens after we die and I don't want to lie to my patient."
Interviewer: "If you aren't sure, you obviously cannot give the man hope because that would be false hope. I was at a convention once about caring for patients about to die. There were scientists, doctors, clergy people, and people from just about all related professions. I went there and asked them this same question and not a single of them could answer me and surprisingly, most of them did not want to talk about when pressed further. As a physician, you offer hope. You are in the business of giving hope. You give a pill to a patient, you give them hope that their sickness will go away. You are not a complete physician unless you can give that dying man hope. Now of all the people at this convention, not a single one could answer my simple question. Yet, I have a friend. He's not a very smart man. He pumps gas at a gas station for a living in a little town. If I brought him into the dying man's room, he would be able to offer the man some hope.
Now... Can you give this man hope? Just think about that and that's all the time we have for this interview. Do you have any questions for me?"
Me: "... how would you give the man hope?"
Interviewer: *pensive look* "Come see me when you're in medical school and I'll let you know"
At this point, he might as well have put on sunglasses, taken them off, and played CSI music...
So I shook hands, still jolted, "Thank you Dr. J, I'll be taking you up on your offer real soon" and GTFO.
Also, the lecture was generously laden with rhetorical questions:
Interviewer: "... and do you know what they said?"
Me: "... what?"
Interviewer: "BLABLABLA"
I feel like I missed some details but the crazy part of the interview/lecture lasted for a good 25-30 minutes.
tl;dr Dr. J wanted to know if I can give a dying man hope. Hope about the after-life, that is (he didn't explicitly state this but he was implying is pretty damn hard). He lectured me about what hope is, how his simple friend who pumps gas for a living can give hope about after-life but so many doctors, scientists, etc. cannot. When I asked him about whether he could give hope in the same scenario he told me to come see him after I get into med-school.
I still don't know what to think of this interview or how I "should have" answered it (best possibly answer?)
What do you make of it?
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