How the words, “I can’t breathe,” affect this pulmonary physician
As I held the shaky, sweaty hand of my 52-year-old African American patient, lying in her ICU bed, trembling with fear, tears rolling down her eyes, she gathered enough strength to utter “I can’t breathe.”
Her words felt like a punch in my gut, eliciting a visceral reaction, with flashes of George Floyd’s body pinned to the ground, running through my mind. The events of the last few weeks had given …
