The article explores the intersection of medicine and literature, highlighting the author's formative experience witnessing the aftermath of a child's death. Initially a medical student, the author recounts the haunting moment of observing a young boy's autopsy. Years later, after gaining extensive experience through medical practice and traveling, the author reflects on the role of doctors as writers. The piece suggests that writing serves as a crucial outlet for doctors to process their encounters with suffering and mortality.
In lonely strip malls and dusty markets, I began scribbling in notebooks. The boy on the metal table was the first ghost to come forward.
A decade passed before I could write about that moment. By then, I'd finished medical school and residency, spending years in contiguity with such suffering.
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