Academic Medicine Podcast

"We are challenged to understand both the reason for a person’s suffering and that she was much more than a suffering person." Resident physician in anatomic and clinical pathology, Dr. William Humphrey, recalls a unique autopsy inquiry that challenges his perspective of life and of the special role a physician plays in guiding their patients through different stages of life. This essay was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the January 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.