When the Doctor cracked. Can we be both professional and human?

As a doctor, he’d learned to control his emotions in difficult situations.

It been drummed into him in his training, and he could see why.

His role as a doctor was to be strong for the patients and clear-headed.

But when the baby died in his care, he left the ward hastily – because he could feel himself beginning to cry. And he didn’t want the parents to see.

They had enough to deal with, surely? They shouldn’t see his tears.

He’d got to know both them and their baby Gerry over the previous few weeks. They’d travelled together through highs and lows, hope and despair.

And though crying was something he very rarely did – ‘I never cry’, he said – when Gerry died, the situation got to him and he felt himself going.

He later apologised to the parents for having to leave.

‘We could see you were upset,’ they said.

‘I’m sorry,’ he replied, feeling he’d messed things up.

‘No, we appreciated it. We really did. It showed that little Gerry meant something to you just like he meant something to us. Your crying helped us.’

Being professional at work doesn’t stop us being human; and sometimes human is more helpful than professional.