“I just watched her… suffocating. In her own fluids. I kept asking if she wanted more help, if she wanted to go on the ventilator and all she was able to say was, ‘No’. I don’t know what to do, M. I don’t know how to help her. I can’t… I can’t watch her suffer anymore.” Pixelated tears turned into currents streaming down the face I’ve loved since I was 13.
"You're a doctor! You're just going to let people suffer?" The flash of fury I suppressed earlier that morning unexpectedly came back in a blaze. I heard the volume of my voice rise alongside the heat flooding my cheeks. "Who's letting who suffer, Papa? Is it me? Is it doctors and healthcare workers who've been trying to stem the tide of this pandemic? Or is it the people who refuse to believe in science and have been spreading the plague because of their right to personal freedom? Who carries that responsibility? WHO CARRIES THE BLAME?"