Bad news

This day was a regular day until lunch. Some interns told me that I was needed at the
surgical ER. A finnish patient was in the ”schock” room and I was needed for translation. Only a few minutes later the telephone of my resident was ringing, someone form the ER was looking for me. A young man had had an accident during skiing in Engelberg and they didn´t have any information about him, only a cell, in finnish. The patient was already in the operation and I had to call the parents to inform them about the accident and injuries. This wasn´t nice. It was very difficult on the phone and the mother was of course totally schocked. I was supposed to tell her that his son had a severe accident but HE IS STABILE. Imagine the situation and try to guess if my ”your son is under stabile conditions, is now beeing operatde and will afterwards be moved to the ICU (intensive care unit)” was calming the mother at all. No, it wasn´t.