01 Mar '23

Remembering that patients are people as well

5130
door Anne Peeters
The past few years have been quite hard-going for top doctor Elisabeth De Waele. The impact of Covid was really devastating and as an emergency doctor in intensive care at Brussels University Hospital, she was right there on the front line.

She, together with her nephew and journalist Filip Van der Elst, wrote a book about the experience: Intensief. Tussen leven en dood op Intensieve Zorg. How does that affect a person, always surrounded by death? ‘It is an everyday reality. You have to strike the right balance between staying human and your professional common sense. Even in that cool, high-tech environment, you have to remember to keep on seeing patients as people, amongst all the tubes and wires.'