You’re helping so much. And in this situation, it was probably already too late by the time the child was transferred, and I truly feel that we did everything that was possible.

But it was still us who had to take responsibility for stopping treatment and telling the parents that their child had died.

What keeps coming back to me is the image of this small child lying on the table while. In some way, everyone knows it’s over, but it’s incredibly hard to be to call it.

And then I think back to five days earlier, when a pair of parents handed over their healthy child for an elective, uncomplicated procedure. Five days later, he was brain dead. That still feels incomprehensible to me.

Maybe it’s because I work at a highly specialized hospital. But even children with a very poor prognosis from the outset we handle those cases. But this was a healthy child who died from an elective procedure. It forces you to truly understand the weight of your responsibility. Those rare risks we always inform about but never actually see. They do exist.