"It can be tricky but I try to put my patients' grief into perspective without being insensitive. It's extraordinary how many of them really appreciate knowing that I, and others, have seen thousands of people who are frightened, sad, philosophical, resigned, angry, brave and puzzled, sometimes all together, just like them. It doesn't diminish their own suffering but helps them peek into the library of human experiences that are catalogued by oncologists. It prompts many patients to say that they are lucky to feel as well as they do despite a life-threatening illness, which is a positive and helpful way of viewing the world. I will never know what kind of a doctor I might have become without the searing experience of being a patient. The twins would have been 10 soon. As I usher the next patient into my room to deliver bad news, I like to think that my loss was not entirely in vain."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
ColumnistsHarvard University alumniWomen from AustraliaPhysicians from AustraliaWomen journalists from Australia
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Losing my twin baby boys for ever changed the way I treat my patients", The Guardian (15 June 2015).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ranjana_Srivastava
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ranjana Srivastava
Ranjana Srivastava OAM (born 1974) is an Australian oncologist and author from Melbourne. She is a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper, where she writes about the intersection between medicine and humanity, and a frequent essayist for the New England Journal of Medicine. She was a finalist for the Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2018.
7 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ranjana Srivastava →
Related Quotes
"I had returned from my Fulbright year at the University of Chicago, blessed with only the joys and none of the irrita…"
"The ASRC [Asylum Seeker Resource Centre] needed a volunteer doctor and I said yes, thinking it would be easy work. In…"
""What kind of a doctor will you be?" "An able one, I hope." "I hope that you become a doctor who will engage with the…"
"I once wrote a report on the inequities I had witnessed on an elective rotation in my Indian home town. He spent hour…"
"The dog repays our love by being the only one to faithfully meet and greet us when we come home. Instead of mumbling …"
"The dog needs boundaries, I warned, as Odie clambered on to laps and snuggled at various feet, ensconced in the folds…"
"We shall never understand the natural environment until we see it not as just so much air, water, and real estate, bu…"
"Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r Tho' there's one motor gone, We can still carry on,…"
"Rule 1 of cryptanalysis: check for plaintext."
"Never underestimate the attention, risk, money, and time that an opponent will put into reading traffic."