Tribute

A physician has an encounter with a patient who has recently suffered a tremendous personal loss. The physician treats the patient and in so doing explores the rationale for and consequences of empathetic participation in the grieving process.

It was a gloomy daydreary, sullenin contrast to the previous night's Independence Day celebration. There was sadness in the department, too; everyone had seen the news splashed across the morning paper. Her body had been found. I doubt there was anyone who was not affected by this tragedy. When one of the nurses told me that her mother was here, I didn't have to ask whose mother it was.

I'd known before I saw the paper, anyway. Yet I'd been watching the news, as had so many others, hoping against hope that she would be found alive. She was only 10 years old, and she was a beautiful childlustrous dark hair, twinkling mischievous eyes, and that captivating smile. I never knew her, but her picture was in the media. I can see it still. She had left a friend's house to go home for supper, riding her bicycle. It was a pink bicycle, …