Surgical Spirit: Playing God

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16)

Care homes took a hit broadside from the coronavirus over the past year. Week after week we saw tired and tearful staff struggling to care for very ill residents and to keep morale afloat. As GPs we were involved in decision making, usually on the telephone: “It’s the Care Home here. It’s Mr Smith – he’s 96, has dementia, is doubly incontinent and going downhill with a dreadful cough. Should he be admitted to hospital?”

Early on there was no routine testing and GPs were not supposed to visit patients unless absolutely necessary. Most older folk wanted to stay put and often evidenced an acquaintance who had gone to hospital for something else, contracted the virus and died. As it turned out, advanced age was a major risk factor for Covid and many nursing homes were devastated.

One day at work, a young GP was very upset. He had made the decision not to move a patient and they died within hours (probably of Covid). We discussed the case: the patient was extremely frail and extremely old. The care staff were assiduous with clinical management, compassionate and genuinely fond of their resident. We concluded that the outcome would have been the same even with admission and that it was kinder and less distressing to be surrounded by familiar walls and faces. “What I don’t like”, said the doctor, “is playing God”.

Around the same time, a Christian friend introduced me to an old hymn. Taking issue with the Prime Minister’s warning that “some people will die before their time”, this friend reminded me that “not a single shaft can hit, till the God of love sees fit”.* This is easier to accept if our loved one is suffering the indignities of old age or dementia, less so if they were young and fit and had, as we thought, their whole life ahead of them. Psalm 139 comforts us in its declaration of the love and care of our heavenly father even before we were born. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. It has to be enough.

* To sing or say

Sovereign Ruler of the skies, ever gracious, ever wise!
            All my times are in your hand, all events at your command.

His decree, who formed the earth, fixed my first and second birth;
            Parents, native place and time, all appointed were by him.       

 He that formed me in the womb, he shall guide me to the tomb;
      All my times shall ever be ordered by his wise decree.

Times of sickness, times of health, times of poverty and wealth;
           all must come, and last and end, as shall please my heavenly friend.

Plagues and deaths around me fly, till he bids I cannot die:
      Not a single shaft can hit till the God of love sees fit.           (John Ryland 1753–1825) 

 

Ruth Eardley is a GP and member of Affinity partner Little Hill Church, Leicester. She writes a regular piece for her church entitled ‘Surgical Spirit’. We have been given permission to reproduce some of them. This is her latest contribution.

Image used under licence:

“3. A Light Shines in the Darkness” by John Twohig Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0