Attending   He loses every case — it’s hospice, he knows that. Isn’t medicine supposed to mean saving people, healing them, saying no to death? The right technique, the right machine, the right dosage — isn’t that what a doctor should know? Coax fire from the spark of life — is that what he should do? But no one walks out of here. Nothing is fixed with a knife in here. They’re goners — we all are. So when did doctor stop meaning teacher — is that where we went wrong? Best to call him attending physician — here to bear witness. What else can the white coat mean, if not surrender — tending what is broken, what is not.                                                          for Derek Kerr     © Michael Fleming Brattleboro, Vermont April 2013