As health professionals and workers, death and suffering is a natural occurrence that we deal with everyday. So much so that many of us have developed a callous and apathetic attitude towards it, even to the point where we make fun and laugh about it. Just this morning as I opened my Facebook, the first thing I saw was that of a status post about the "heavens opening" and following that, were tongue in cheek comments about patients who died during the shift. As I read through it, my immediate reaction was to view these statements coming from health professionals, as inappropriate and insensitive. But then, as I thought about it, I realized that my opinion was made because I knew these people. Others who were not familiar with them would not think the same way I did, because without any biases, the remarks were actually innocent enough, like some private joke between people who work together.
