I was offered the chance once. I felt wrong, as much as I would have loved to. Heres why. Patient came into the trauma room of our ER, pretty much DOA. Once we realized there was no hope, the attending suggested the "last ditch effort" of cardiac massage. The senior resident literally squealed and jumped up and down in excitement. Once the procedure was underway, a line of at least 6 medical students came into the room to observe and have their turn to massage. Ok...I guess I get that they need the experience or exposure, but by this point, it just seemed like a circus show. Then, two of the ER techs (EMTs) ask if they could try. Attending says "Sure!" After they then get their turns, a resident looks at me and asks if I want to try. By this point, Im about to cry and snap over the fact that this patient, who is my parents age, got in a car wreck just 45 minutes ago, and were treating this human like a lab rat. I was so disgusted by everyones excitement about this situation, I had to say no, in hopes this code would end ASAP. Luckily, after my refusal, we called it.

To add gas to my fire, the senior who jumped up and down prior to all this was now covered in blood. Her reaction? "This has obviously been a great day!" Ive never wanted to punch someone so bad in my life.