Sensitivity is beautiful

ICUcost.com is a provocative short comic offering a frank commentary on common physician frustrations with purported irrationality in ICU transition conversations with families

PlanetUSHealthcare.com is a comic revelation examining some nurses' perspectives that they are functionally "flogging" dying patients on the front lines of late-stage care in many ICUs

While the doctor and nurse perspectives can be depicted humorously for catharsis, the family perspective is not a laughing matter and deserves a more considered response

 Pregnancy is a time of heightened sensitivity and vulnerability. Judgement is harder to hide than we might think. It is not lost on black mothers when a white clinician thinks they know best regarding a difficult prenatal decision. No one can impose their fears and values on the life of another through manipulation or pressure. Black mother know best what is right for their bodies. They also know what is best for their ill children. The likelihood of complicated and life-long disabilities or permanent vegetative states poses difficult decisions for parents who are given the option of compassionate extubation. The best and healthiest route to considered decisions and the minimization of long term health-ravaging regret can be counterintuitive.   

 There is nothing more devastating to a mother than the death of an infant. No matter which side one might take on the culture war surrounding "law and order" vs. "defunding the police", hospital responses to infant death should be an oasis of common ground. Militarized responses to infant death cause irreparable harm to grieving mothers and ravage health. This short-sighted approach only entrenches what it judges. With conscious effort, we an work to lean against racial profiling rooted in unconscious bias. Even in cases of suspected foul play, we must lead with compassion. Honoring grief and personhood is healthy for patients and providers alike.