The challenging puzzle over a patient’s death

At the University Clinic Maastricht

Wednesday morning 8 a.m. Dutch cardiologists assemble for their morning meeting in a lecture theatre. An assistant doctor presents an interesting case: heart failure, operation, cardiac arrest. Where is the patient now? Either waiting in cold storage or already six feet under. Perhaps he is waiting for his cremation.

A long discussion begins. What could one have done differently? But even all the high-tec in modern university clinics cannot prevent the tragic fact from happening: in the end we will all lose our individual battle against death.

Half an hour later the heart specialists are faced with a total different scenario. How can a modern hospital in the Andes emerge out of nothing? PowerPoint slides flash across the screen in quick succession. Coincidences and miracles. Trust in God. Words that this lecture hall probably hears for the first time.

Towards the end of his talk the missionary doctor speaks of his hope in life after death. But does this place really exist? A place where heart attacks and ventricular fibrillation will be things of the past. Perhaps it dawns on some in the auditorium that the solution for our mortality requires a totally different strategy. Better techniques can reduce our complication rates and new medication can enable us to have a better quality of life for a couple of months more. But the key question lies elsewhere. Was Jesus’ tomb really empty on the third day? If we believe it was, we can truly enter into a new reality when we breathe our last: without tears, screams of pain and breathlessness. If we do not, we will vanish into nothingness and start to decompose in a dark box, forgotten by man and God. This decision is not taken in an ECG, but is a decision of faith./KDJ

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