This post is not about hospital medicine.
This post is not about physicians.
This post is not about accountable or patient-centered care.
It trumps all of them.
It’s about the human spirit and its beauty.
I knew of Let Me Down Easy only owing to references on NPR, a review here or there, or a mention on PBS. I am not a patron of the arts, so my interest in Anna Deavere Smith’s show was nominal at best.
My lapse, and perhaps one day I will love the arts like my colleagues. I do recognize that rhapsodic stare however; that moment where one is absorbed into the passion a fine performance arouses. You see it the eyes. People recede into their seats, disappearing for a few short moments.
I watched this clip, and that patron was I. The tears streamed down my face.
As I said, this show is not about hospitalists. Yet it is about everything we do, and the ideals we must strive to achieve.
Anna Deavere Smith
“…her one-woman show about the human body, the human spirit, and the health care system. The full-length production is based on over 300 interviews and portrays more than 20 people and their experiences.”
Go to the 35’ mark. Watch for five minutes, and when your through, pass it on to a fellow physician or friend.
Let me down easy. Amen.
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