A Sunday story with a moral at the conclusion....

[PCIntern]

When I was training, the most comprehensive and difficult course which we studied was general pathology. In that course, all the basic sciences are integrated with the assumption that since you are now schooled in the “normal“ it is time to learn about the abnormal or pathology. To that end, we studied inflammation and infection, oncology, and various and sundry autoimmune complex diseases, and many many more. The volume of material was frightening, however it was somewhat easily absorbable since our basic science courses had been very comprehensive.

The head of the department of pathology at our university was an extremely erudite and learned man who was clearly a politically progressive humanist: thoughtful, brilliant, (obviously), and very very interested in teaching us as much as he could stuff into our heads. We met weekly in what are known in colleges as recitation sessions, but we were called lab sections, and to one of these he brought a bunny rabbit. He told us that the bunny had been sensitized with a compound such that if it came in to contact with the compound again, it would go to anaphylactic shock and die. he then proceeded, at our collective horror, to inject the body with this antigen, and for the next 10 minutes, we watched it die. I cannot begin to tell you how sadistic and horrifying this experience was, and realize that he was doing it for six other sections for a total of seven bunny rabbits. Annually.

He watched us all very carefully, and then he said this, and I’ll paraphrase, but I’m not far from the exact quotation because I will never forget it, “What I just did now is show you death. I’m sure most of you have never seen the death of a human or an animal in your presence, and God willing, you will never have to have this happen , but I am telling you that a dental office is as good a place to die as any, and that is why you need to be very careful with your history taking, your discussion of the medical history with the patient, and your administration of medications, including anesthetics, and any other prescription meds. I look into your eyes and I see how upset you are with me and I don’t care. What I do care about is that you have learned a lesson today that it is incumbent upon you to prevent this from happening if it all possible under your auspices. Physicians are fortunate in a sense inasmuch as they learn in hospitals, where people are dying daily, but you don’t have to endure this series of horrors and for many of you that is why you chose dentistry as a profession.”

Obviously, I have never forgotten this experience, and I have to say that for better or worse, and believe me, I am an animal lover, and the whole thing made me sick to my stomach, his mission was successful. Which brings me to my point for the day.

When this football player collapsed, essentially dead, on the field a few Mondays ago I was watching it live, and was as horrified as anyone else observing this tragedy in the making. I thank the staff and the doctors and their professional competence for saving him, and was thrilled to see, as I’m certain virtually everyone else is thrilled to see, his return to some normal existence. it is remarkable how sophisticated the process was and how far we’ve come in medical science in a few short years. But I would say this to all: any of us at any moment can sustain a problem which causes sudden death. It can happen on a bus, it can happen watching TV, it can happen while posting to DU, it can happen at the grocery store . For this gentleman, it almost happened at his place of business, which happens to be a football field. I’m certain that analytically it is actually a very complicated series of events which caused this to occur as it is for most people. When some of us have cardiac episodes, people will say well that person is overweight, smoked, was under a great deal of stress, whatever. The fact is that , it is a synergy of these issues which caused the problem. Of course, what we do as thinking individuals is use the “best odds“ technique of trying to minimize risk, but the risk is always there.

I think that the fact that it has been 50 years since a professional Football player died on the field during a game is in and of itself remarkable and all these discussions for increased safety due to this most recent occurrence are somewhat specious: anyone who participates in physical activity at any level is at risk. When I was in high school, I played competitive tennis and was invited to a racquet club for a weekend tournament with local players, and one of the gentleman in his mid-30s who I would describe is looking like George HW Bush in his 30s: tall, physically, fit slim, you know the look, finished his match, took a glass of lemonade, and dropped dead on the spot. They were people standing right next to him who jumped on top of him to try to help there was no pulse. In 1 million years when this guy woke up in the morning, not one person would think that it was his last day on this earth.

Finally, I would say on this Sunday please enjoy the pleasures of man and nature, and the NFL if you, like me, love football, and realize that the only lasting, permanent thing in this whole Universe is Donald Trump’s ability to not be held accountable for a single thing which he has done to damage others in his life.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thank you for this excellent post, my dear PCIntern.

Your professor left you with a great lesson. And you have absorbed it perfectly.

K&R

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Honestly it's not clear to me what the lesson was. To show you that death sucks? That he was

an asshole?

[PCIntern]

5. The moral of this particular story is

That death is everywhere and no one is immune. The shock of seeing someone (nearly) die on a football field should not be any greater than seeing someone die in a market, or on a train, or at one’s own dinner table.

And yes….the other things as well

[jaxexpat]

10. Looks to me the instructor was intentionally traumatizing his audience.

There is no more efficient technique for teaching lessons of life and death importance. If the experience encourages even one practitioner to reexamine their procedure and catch an error before it becomes lethal, the method is valid beyond any judgment.

[hlthe2b]

3. I appreciate your post, but I would strongly argue a video of such a reaction/death

would have likewise stayed with you without the (IMHO) sadism. I will never forget viewing a video shown in class--from the 1930s, or sometime around-- of Iranian soldiers dying from rabies contracted from wolves in a desert-like region of Iran. I won't describe (but StILL could, after decades) the progression and the horror. While I've seen videos of animals dying from rabies and certainly seen my share of human death, that video has never left me. The horror of the weeks of progression among several soldiers was just beyond horrific--knowing that in that time there was nothing to be done and only recent years provided us hope for treatment ONCE SYMPTOMATIC, albeit prevention and post-exposure intervention has been available for decades.

I know it was a different time, but damn. I'm not sure I would not have expressed my disgust with killing the rabbits so needlessly multiple times---despite the blowback that would undoubtedly occur. Yes, I realize that videotaping such "experiments" was not as readily available many decades ago, but... sigh

[PCIntern]

4. I couldn't agree more.

[pandr32]

6. Excellent post and moral.

[llashram]

7. bravo

excellent "moral" and true.

[ancianita]

8. Thank you for your heart rending story. And here's the thing

Last edited Sun Jan 15, 2023, 02:51 PM - Edit history (1)

you said that helps me realize that FUD has gripped you.

To describe the animal death, its witness, and the professor's wisdom in that lab session, and then to say this

Finally, I would say on this Sunday please enjoy the pleasures of man and nature ... and realize that the only lasting, permanent thing in this whole Universe is Donald Trump’s ability to not be held accountable for a single thing ...

means that you didn't learn about death -- and accountability -- as well as you might believe you have. Or non sequitur thinking.

While accountability under rule of law is yet working unseen ...

Enjoy your Sunday.

[FakeNoose]

9. Thanks for this timely reminder that we all have to face it someday

More Americans need to learn CPR training, the Heimlich maneuver, and similar emergency first aid. I believe that what saved Damar Hamlin's life was the medical staff trainer who started CPR immediately and kept it going until he was rushed off the field. CPR can't wait until the victim is on the EMS van, it needs to start immediately when the heart stops beating.

We can all hope that the people surrounding Chump will somehow "forget" their CPS training when HIS heart stops beating. That's my take-away for the day.

[TygrBright]

11. Some sects of Buddhism believe the contemplation of death increases happiness in life.

I think context is everything, but the overall principle might be sound.

Someone upthread commented that a similar result might have been achieved by killing ONE rabbit, filming and replaying the experience. That's possible. There are people who are still processing the trauma of watching the George Floyd video. Anyone who has attentively observed the dying process for any reason, on almost any occasion, can understand how deep a mark it leaves, even with a screen between the watcher and the act.

I am in awe of hospice nurses and volunteers.

But I digress.

The reality is that death is part of life. Our culture has done an outstanding job of sequestering us from this reality and that may be part of our overall cultural dysfunction. Seeing, understanding, and accepting the dying process may be a necessary feature of maturity; I know it has been necessary for me to be able to contemplate my own mortality with some level of serenity.

Much of religion and theology is based on the speculation about what happens to the individuality of consciousness when the body dies. There's a growing literature on secular exploration of this question as well. "What happens after?" to us, to those we love, to humans and other forms of life alike, is a question that every individual is free to speculate about or deny as we see fit. But our choice will not make the presence of physical dying and death around us stop or go away.

And, as you note, eventually it will be the turn of each of us to experience this process.

Right now I am watching my mother die in exquisitely slow motion. She is 93 and in very robust physical health, but as we interact I can see the beginning of a dying process in her growing detachment from the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of living. The fierce and joyous appreciation I feel for my body and its processes is subsiding in her - she is merely grateful for the lack of pain and the continuance of mobility and dignity.

While this is painful to watch on one level, it is also important and in its own way, joyous, to understand that given the time, I may experience a similar process. That the sense of wanting to continue my me-ness at all possible costs may fade and leave me simply glad to succumb to worn-out physiology and step across the threshold of no-longer-me without much regret.

Every life of any length is a complete unit of being and individuality and contribution to the whole of All Life. As hard as this is to accept and process when I feel that death has come 'too soon' and/or that something about the individual remains 'unfinished', that, too is a reality. We all, always leave the best of ourselves - our work and our contributions to this life - to others when we die.

Perhaps those Buddhists are indeed onto something.

thoughtfully,
Bright

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. I'm not sure a film of a dying rabbit would have had a lifelong impact on you students.

[PCIntern]

13. That's true.

I’m still talking about this 46 years later.