The Cost of Saving Lives

I killed a patient to save three others and I'd do it again. The transplant list had been stagnant

for months when I discovered our comatose John Doe was a perfect match for the dying kids

in pediatrics. His brain scans showed irreversible damage, but he was still

breathing on his own. Technically alive. I falsified one number on his chart

during rounds. Just one. Suddenly he qualified for withdrawal of care.

The attending never double checked my work. Forty-eight hours later,

I watched those three children leave the ICU walking. Their parents cried tears of joy while

John Doe's body went cold in the morgue. Nobody claimed him. Nobody mourned him.