Twitter Trend Brings Us to Tears with Incredibly Touching, Heartbreaking Stories from Health Professionals

Trigger warning: This article addresses graphic medical procedures, suicide and sexual assault. 

While countless TV shows delve into the life of medical professionals, most tend to focus on the personal dramas of doctors, nurses, EMTs, pathologists, often creating a distorted image of what life inside the halls of hospitals, fire stations and family practices looks like.

But Twitter’s recent #ShareAStoryInOneTweet hashtag presented a rare opportunity for us mere mortals to catch an unedited, often heartbreaking glimpse into the lives of real medical professionals and the stories, wins, losses and emotional burdens that come with the profession – something that is often overlooked.

Started by Medical Twitter star Esther Choo – an emergency physician from Oregon – the hashtag spread like wildfire across the Twittersphere, bringing to light extremely personal stories that exemplify the emotional toll the profession takes on those who practice it and the deep empathy required to be an effective physician, as well as the power that wins can give medical professionals.

Stories ranged from the unexpected wins…

To the losses that still haunt those who did everything they could, but it still wasn’t enough…

And the grateful former patients who stayed in touch…

There were moments of confession, where costly mistakes were made…

And times when medical professionals needed someone to hear their pain…

Instances where the roles reversed, and patients helped doctors…

Where breaking rules was the real ethical decision….

Cautionary tales of going against science and doctors’ advice….

Where politics and other external factors precipitated tragedies….

Countless arguments for the importance of access to healthcare 

The injustice of lack of access to proper healthcare in poor countries...

The heartbreak of prejudice and ignorance...

Stories of the life-saving generosity of organ donation…

And the incredibly inspiring patients who became medical professionals to pay it forward….

Editor’s Note: Struggling and feeling hopeless? You are not alone. Please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).