Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Studying the Emotional Impact of Clinical Ethics Consultation

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Studying the Emotional Impact of Clinical Ethics Consultation

During my first year of graduate school, I was questioned by a professor because I arrived five minutes late to his seminar. Little did he know, I was in the midst of my first months on a clinical ethics consultation service and I had spent the preceding hour on the phone with two attending physicians, both of whom were deeply troubled by their roles in caring for a young patient on the brink of death. I had a choice. Curtail the call or be late…