Ian Barbash, MD

Sometimes a simple phrase captures what extended paragraphs struggle to explain. That’s what I thought one day as I sat with colleagues in a reflection session following a tragic event.

After an extended silence, another critical care attending said, “I just wish I could put everyone on emotional ECMO.”

Her sentence captured what so many of us were feeling. As critical care clinicians, we are trained to act—to fix deranged physiology, to intervene when patients are ill. Yet in the wake of a tragic outcome, we were left feeling powerless to change what had happened.

Among the many topics we discussed that day was how people were coping. Some went for runs. Some spent time with friends and family. Others sat alone in a quiet room.

I offered that I sometimes found writing helpful.

Later that week, I wrote Emotional ECMO and shared it with the colleague who had used the phrase.

With her blessing, I submitted it to Pulse, an online forum for narrative medicine, where it was accepted.

I hope you enjoy reading it.