Doctor's note shows how people can face death with calmness

Or would you, could you, do you what Dr. Jim Hall did in a small plane sputtering over Lake Michigan — use your precious time to write a note to people you love, not just for yourself but for others facing death with you, and put that note someplace where you hope it will be found?

“Wow. That’s a wonderful thing,” said Dr. E. James Potchen, who chairs the Department of Radiology at Michigan State University. He teaches medical students about decision-making and lectured on “The Art of Dying” after a near-fatal heart attack a few years ago.

“He did what I would liked to have done,” Potchen said.

Hall, a physician from Alma, left a note in a waterproof bag that was recovered from the lake after Friday’s crash of a small plane with five people aboard taking a cancer patient from Alma to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. 

The note said: “10 a.m. Dear all. We love you. We lost power over mid lake Mich. and turning back. We are praying to God that all will be taken care of. We love you, Jim.” The plane disappeared from radar at 10:07 a.m.

Potchen, 77, said people would probably be surprised to learn what they can handle once they are resigned to their fate.

“We can only speculate, of course, but a physician would have experience with this,” Potchen said. “Once you know there is nothing you can do, once you accept the inevitable, there is great clarity and calm.”

There’s a physical reason for that — the release of endorphins in the brain that are relaxing or even euphoric.

“And you think about people you love and you want them to know that you are OK, not to feel badly for you,” Potchen said.

“When I was in the ambulance, the attendant pulled the mask back from my face and said, ‘Are you afraid?’ and I said, ‘No, not the least bit. I feel very excited about whatever is going to happen to me. I know it’s only going to happen once, but I want to learn all I can from it.’”

Potchen said Hall’s note was similar to the many voicemail messages left by victims of the 9/11 attacks once they knew there would be no escape from hijacked jetliners or the burning twin towers.

“If you can’t control it, you adapt very quickly by accepting it,” he said. “I’ve seen it in patients. I have lived it. It’s a remarkable thing. People are more capable of adjusting than they realize. When they know there is nothing they can do, they know there is nothing to fear.”

If you ever think about finding yourself in the situation faced by Hall, there’s some comfort in that — for you and for the people you love.

LINK TO PHOTO OF DR HALL AND ORIGINAL STORY

http://www.freep.com/article/20100726/NEWS06/7260450/1318/Note-We-are-praying-...