Jonathan and his wife Anna thought they were coming to the emergency department for a routine sickle cell pain crisis, but his illness takes him down an unexpected spiral of multi-system organ failure and critical illness. What was a routine patient encounter becomes a much more personal human interaction that causes the provider to question her perspective on chronically painful conditions and realize the effect our words and subtle actions have on our patients.
When a patient presents with a sickle cell pain crisis and has an unexpected outcome, questions are raised as to how we view chronically painful conditions and the unconscious biases we carry.
