r/emergencymedicine • u/Amazing-Ad8160 • Feb 09 '25

Advice Tips for a difficult death

New attending. Had a gruesome death of a little boy happen in front of me the other day. I will spare the specific details but it was a penetrating trauma. Peds trauma cracked his chest, chest tubes, whole blood, blood on the floor, fingers in the wounds to stop the bleeding, the whole deal. Screaming parents and grandparents afterword. Have two sons similarly aged and I can’t get this out of my head to function normally at home. Just so happened to happen right before a week off so haven’t been back to work yet. Seen what seems like tons of deaths at this point and was never affected to this degree . Never seen a traumatic death of a healthy child though (seen pediatric codes but chronically Ill kids on borrowed time) Any tips for getting over it? How do you deal with bad deaths and making sure you don’t develop ptsd/burn out? I love what I do but if this was any weekly occurrence I would quit.

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u/Baileysahma Feb 09 '25

You should absolutely seek out debriefing which should have been offered to you by the hospital before the end of your shift. If they fail to provide this you should find a professional provider on your own. Some situations will haunt you all your life unless you process them and no one will protect you from this but you. I am so sorry.

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u/toremypants Feb 09 '25

I think they haunt you even if you’ve processed them.

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u/MrFunnything9 Feb 09 '25

You haven’t done enough therapy. All wounds heal, sometimes they leave a scar but you become a stronger provider from it.

6

u/SpacepirateAZ Feb 09 '25

Not all wounds heal and sometimes the wounds even cause death.

1

u/MrFunnything9 Feb 09 '25

You’re right. But this a post trying to inspire hope for OP. I would hope a person would reach out to crisis resources before it got to that point