And I would not use Alicia’s last act of generosity to pretend I had made no mistake.
When the Whole World Has an Opinion
The hospital began its formal review.
I was instructed to submit a detailed account of the marriage, including when Alicia first raised the idea, what I had discussed with her, and how I had arranged for another physician to assume her care.
I sat at my laptop for hours.
At first, I wrote sentences that made my decision sound almost inevitable.
Alicia requested the marriage.
She understood her prognosis.
I wanted to make her final days happier.
All of those statements were true.
But together, they made it sound as though I had simply followed a path someone else had chosen for me.
I deleted the draft.
Alicia had asked.
I had agreed.
No one had forced me to say yes.
I rewrote the account, acknowledging that I had allowed compassion to override my responsibility to seek guidance before crossing a professional boundary.
