How to die

Today, we went to a hospice for lessons. The atmosphere there is very different. We were greeted by Dr Ann B Thorsen. She is the wife of Prof Sydney Chung, our Ex-dean of faculty. She is very kind and she has taught us a lot in terms of palliative care as well as the joy of being a doctor.

Dr Thorsen has shown us a few patients, they are all at the end of their lives, she knows all about them, their life histories, their hobbies, the ups and downs in their lives. I have never seen a doctor who gave so much effort to understand her patients.

I was really impressed by the hospice ward that she runs. The patients are not suffering, they are comfortably enjoying the last momments of their life, with their families, doing the things that they wanted to do and not suffering a single bit of pain or other discomfort.