Please Hear Me

I am generally a pretty “chill” person who respects personal choice and freedom. As an intensive care physician during a global pandemic, I have witnessed suffering and death on a level that I could not have imagined. When the COVID vaccine was approved (albeit Emergency Use Authorization), in late 2020, we rushed in droves to get the “the jab.” I was flabbergasted and appalled by the politicization of vaccines.

I will recount an encounter with a patient and his spouse that hurt me more than I care to admit.

Me: “Did you get your COVID vaccine?”

Spouse: “Oh NO!”

Me: “Why not?”

Spouse: “We have a religious exemption.”

Me: “If I may, I would like to discuss this with you.”

Spouse: Eye roll. “Ummmm. Sure.”

I went on to counsel them about the misconception about fetal cells in mRNA vaccines. I even informed them that the pope had been vaccinated.

Spouse: Another eye roll. “Maybe.”

Me: “So, you don’t believe the Pope got vaxed?”

This led to many tangents. “We have done our research.” “So many deaths from the vaccine.” “So many side-effects.” “Experimental.” “Unproven.” And on and on.

It was easy for me to dispel their objections. I Googled death rates and side effects using credible sources right in the office. How can one argue with Dr. Google?

Spouse: “Why are they forcing this experimental inoculation on us?”

Me: “But they didn’t mandate anything for five months. They even entered everyone in a one-million-dollar lottery!”

Spouse: “They are killing people with the ventilators and making up COVID deaths on the death certificates.”

Me: “So, you are saying that I have been willfully killing people and then falsifying their death certificates for the last eighteen months?”

Spouse: “Oh, I am so sorry. I never meant you!”

Me: “Then who do you mean? Who is killing patients and fraudulently filling out death certificates?”

Spouse: “I didn’t mean to offend you!”

Me: “But do you see why I AM offended!? It is ME and MY COLLEAGUES who put patients on ventilators and fill out death certificates!”

Spouse: “I am sorry you feel that way.”

Me: “How else should I feel when you tell me I am a fraud, and I am committing murder?”

That was it for me. It was time to end this encounter. I thanked them both for listening and asked them to reconsider their decision based on our conversation.

Rizwana Khan
Bellevue, Washington