More Than a Stethoscope

Mrs. Jones didn't need a cure. She needed a witness to her grief—someone to sit with her in the silence, to validate the love she had for her husband and the life they built. She needed to be heard.

Christine Dianne Nepomuceno reflects on a patient who taught her that healing is not always about medicine. Sometimes it is about holding space for someone in their most vulnerable moments.

This essay placed second in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.