Christopher Kerr > Quotes

“During that time, I silently and uneasily witnessed the practice of “signing off,” shorthand for when doctors stop following a terminal patient. We not only abandoned critically ill patients, we did so by speaking the worst words anyone could say to someone suffering and in need: “There is nothing left that we can do.” From a medical perspective, there was nothing more to be diagnosed or treated; from the point of view of a doctor in training, nothing to be learned.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams

“Sometimes it takes holding on tight to let go.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death is But a Dream

“plea: we need to bring doctors back to the bedside, to their roots as comforters of the dying rather than as mere technicians trying to extend life at all costs.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams

“They were swallowed up by the economics of medicine.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams

“Because it had not been part of my medical education, I failed to see how the subjective experience of dying could be relevant to my role as a doctor.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams

“She no longer feared her own nonexistence and died peacefully in her mother’s arms.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams

“This book is therefore a plea: we need to bring doctors back to the bedside, to their roots as comforters of the dying rather than as mere technicians trying to extend life at all costs.”
― Christopher Kerr, Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life Dreams