Matthew O'Reilly: "Am I dying?" The honest answer.

Translator: montse massallé Reviewer: Carla Pavia Fayos

I've been a critical care EMT for the past seven years in Suffolk County, New York.

He sigut un tècnic sanitari d'emergències

durant els darrers set anys a Suffolk, Nova York.

I've been a first responder in a number of incidents

He sigut el primer en respondre a un nombre d'incidents

ranging from car accidents to Hurricane Sandy.

que van d'accidents de cotxe a l'huracà Sandy.

If you are like most people, death might be

Si vosaltres sou com la la majoria de gent

one of your greatest fears.

la mort pot ser un dels més grans temors.

Some of us will see it coming.

Alguns de nosaltres la veurem venir.

Some of us won't.

Alguns de nosaltres no.

There is a little-known documented medical term

Hi ha un terme mèdic poc conegut

called impending doom.

anomenat mort inminent.

It's almost a symptom.

És quasi un sínptoma

Com a prestador de serveis mèdics, estic entrenat per respondre

As a medical provider, I'm trained to respond

to this symptom like any other,

a aquest símptoma

so when a patient having a heart attack looks at me

com a qualsevol altre,

per això quan un pacient que està patint un atac de cor

and says, "I'm going to die today,"

em mira i diu, " moriré avui,"

we are trained to reevaluate the patient's condition.

estem entrenats a revalorar la condició del pacient.

Throughout my career, I have responded

A través de la meva carrera

he respòs a un nombre d'incidents on els pacients

to a number of incidents where the patient

had minutes left to live

tenien minuts de vida

and there was nothing I could do for them.

i no podíem fer res per ells.

With this, I was faced with a dilemma:

Amb això, havia d'afrontar un dilema:

Do I tell the dying that they are about to face death,

Dir-los que estaven a punt de morir,

or do I lie to them to comfort them?

o mentir i confortar-los ?

Al principi de la meva carrera vaig afrontar aquest dilema

Early in my career, I faced this dilemma

by simply lying.

senzillament mentint.

I was afraid.

Estava espantat.

I was afraid if I told them the truth,

Temia que si els deia la veritat,

that they would die in terror, in fear,

ells moririen amb terror, amb por,

just grasping for those last moments of life.

només aferrant-se a aquests últims moments de vida.

That all changed with one incident.

Tot això va canviar amb un incident.

Five years ago, I responded to a motorcycle accident.

Fa cinc anys vaig respondre a un accident de moto.

The rider had suffered critical, critical injuries.

El conductor havia patit danys crítics.

As I assessed him, I realized that there was nothing

Mentre l'examinava em vaig adonar

that could be done for him,

que no es podia fer res per a ell,

and like so many other cases, he looked me in the eye

i com amb molts altres casos, ell em va mirar els ulls

and asked that question: "Am I going to die?"

i em va preguntar: " M'estic morint?"

In that moment, I decided to do something different.

En aquell moment vaig decidir fer alguna cosa diferent.

I decided to tell him the truth.

Vaig decidir dir-li la veritat.

I decided to tell him that he was going to die

Vaig decidir dir-li que s'estava morint

and that there was nothing I could do for him.

i que no hi havia res a fer.

His reaction shocked me to this day.

La seva reacció em va sorprendre fins ara.

He simply laid back and had a look

Simplement es va relaxar i tenia una mirada

of acceptance on his face.

d'acceptació a la seva cara.

He was not met with that terror or fear

No es va trobar amb aquell terror o aquella por

that I thought he would be.

que jo pensava.

He simply laid there, and as I looked into his eyes,

Senzillament es va relaxar, i mentre jo mirava els seus ulls

I saw inner peace and acceptance.

vaig veure pau interior i acceptació.

From that moment forward, I decided

Des de llavors, vaig decidir

it was not my place to comfort the dying with my lies.

que no era cosa meva consolar moribunds amb les meves mentires.

Having responded to many cases since then

Des de llavors he respost a molts casos

where patients were in their last moments

on els pacients estaven en els seus darrers moments

and there was nothing I could do for them,

i no hi havia res a fer per ells,

in almost every case,

I en gairebé cada cas

they have all had the same reaction to the truth,

tots ells varen tenir la mateixa reacció davant la veritat,

of inner peace and acceptance.

de pau interior i acceptació.

In fact, there are three patterns

De fet, hi ha tres patrons

I have observed in all these cases.

que he observat en tots els casos.

The first pattern always kind of shocked me.

El primer patró sempre m'ha sorprès

Regardless of religious belief or cultural background,

Independentment de les creences religioses o d'antecedents culturals,

there's a need for forgiveness.

hi ha una necessitat de perdó.

Whether they call it sin

Tant si en diuen pecat

or they simply say they have a regret,

o simplement diuen que tenen un remordiment,

their guilt is universal.

La seva culpa és universal.

I had once cared for an elderly gentleman

Una vegada vaig cuidar un senyor d'edat avançada

who was having a massive heart attack.

que estava tenint un atac de cor.

As I prepared myself and my equipment

Mentre em preparava a mi mateix i el meu equipament

for his imminent cardiac arrest,

per a la seva imminent aturada cardíaca,

I began to tell the patient of his imminent demise.

Vaig començar a parlar al pacient de la seva imminent defunció.

He already knew by my tone of voice and body language.

Ell ja coneix el meu to de veu

i el meu llenguatge corporal.

As I placed the defibrillator pads on his chest,

Mentre col·locava els elèctrodes del desfibril·lador al seu pit

prepping for what was going to happen,

preparant el que anava a succeïr,

he looked me in the eye and said,

Ell em va mirar als ulls i va dir:

"I wish I had spent more time with my children and grandchildren

"Tan de bo hagués passat més temps amb els meus fills i néts

instead of being selfish with my time."

en comptes d'haver sigut egoista amb el meu temps."

Faced with imminent death,

Afrontant una mort imminent,

all he wanted was forgiveness.

la única cosa que volia era perdó.

The second pattern I observe

El segon patró que observo

is the need for remembrance.

és la necessitat de ser recordat.

Tant si es tracta de ser recordats en els meus pensaments

Whether it was to be remembered in my thoughts

or their loved ones', they needed to feel

com en els dels seus estimats, ells necessiten sentir

that they would be living on.

que seguiran presents.

There's a need for immortality

Hi ha una necessitat d'inmortalitat

within the hearts and thoughts of their loved ones,

en els cors i els pensaments de les seves persones estimades,

myself, my crew, or anyone around.

jo mateix, el meu grup, o qualsevol persona del voltant.

Countless times, I have had a patient look me in the eyes

Incomptables vegades, he tingut un pacient que em mira als ulls

and say, "Will you remember me?"

i diu: "em recordaràs?"

The final pattern I observe

El darrer patró que observo

always touched me the deepest, to the soul.

Sempre m'ha tocat profundament, fins l'ànima.

The dying need to know that their life had meaning.

El moribund necessita saber que la seva vida ha tingut un sentit.

They need to know that they did not waste their life

Necessiten saber que no han malbaratat la seva vida

on meaningless tasks.

en tasques sense sentit.

Això em va passar molt al principi de la meva carrera.

This came to me very, very early in my career.

I had responded to a call.

Jo havia respost a una trucada.

There was a female in her late 50s

Es tractava d'una dona de més d'uns 57 anys

severely pinned within a vehicle.

greument atrapada dins un vehicle.

She had been t-boned at a high rate of speed,

L'havien envestit de costat a molta velocitat,

critical, critical condition.

una situació molt i molt crítica.

As the fire department worked to remove her from the car,

Mentre els bombers treballaven per treure-la del cotxe,

I climbed in to begin to render care.

vaig pujar-hi i vaig començar a donar-li atenció.

As we talked, she had said to me,

Mentre parlàvem em va dir:

"There was so much more I wanted to do with my life."

" Volia fer moltes coses amb la meva vida."

She had felt she had not left her mark on this Earth.

Ella havia sentit que no havia deixat la seva impremta a aquest món.

As we talked further, it would turn out

Mentre parlàvem més va resultar

that she was a mother of two adopted children

que era mare de dos criatures adoptades

who were both on their way to medical school.

que estaven preparant-se per estudiar medicina.

Because of her, two children

Gràcies a ella, dues criatures

havien tingut l'oportunitat que mai haurien tingut d'altra manera

had a chance they never would have had otherwise

and would go on to save lives in the medical field

i continuarien salvant vides en el camp de la medicina

as medical doctors.

com a metges.

It would end up taking 45 minutes

Estarien 45 minuts

to free her from the vehicle.

per alliberar-la del cotxe.

However, she perished prior to freeing her.

De totes maneres, va morir abans que l'alliberessin.

I believed what you saw in the movies:

Abans creia el que vosaltres veieu a les pel·lícules:

when you're in those last moments

Quan estàs en aquells últims moments

that it's strictly terror, fear.

que són estrictament de terror i por.

I have come to realize, regardless of the circumstance,

M'he adonat, que independentment de les circumstàncies,

it's generally met with peace and acceptance,

generalment s'afronta amb pau i acceptació,

that it's the littlest things, the littlest moments,

que són les coses més petites, els més petits moments,

the littlest things you brought into the world

les coses més petites que tu vas portar al món

that give you peace in those final moments.

les que et donen pau en aquells moments finals.

Thank you.

Gràcies

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)