The caregiver's dilemma: in search of sustainable medical empathy

Abstract

In 2015, our daughter Alma was delivered by emergency caesarean section at a local children's hospital. I listened for her cries, but she was silent. The medical team, too, was eerily quiet, gripped with concern. Alma struggled to live. We learned later that during her birth she had suffered a stroke. In those first moments as a parent, I realised two things. First, I wanted to protect my daughter more than anything I'd ever wanted. Second, I had already failed.