Elective Procedure with Pablo Romano
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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What sparked Pablo Romano’s decision to become a medical student?
At The Nocturnist, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with healthcare privacy laws. Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer.
This is The Nocturnist, stories from the world of medicine. I'm Emily Silverman. Today, I speak with Pablo Romano. Pablo is a fourth year medical student at Stanford University, interested in psychiatry and palliative care. He grew up between the suburbs of Los Angeles and Guadalajara, Mexico, and studied cognitive science at Occidental College. At Stanford, Pablo created a recurring storytelling series called TalkRx, where medical students are given speaker coaching and a platform to tell their stories in front of an audience of peers. But before we speak with Pablo, we'll hear the story of how he lost his mother to medical complications after an elective procedure and how that affects his worldview as a medical student.
It's a story he told at the Nocturnus live show on the theme of mistakes in March of 2019. Here's Pablo.
My college experience started out on a rough note. I went to college in LA about 40 minutes from where I went to high school. And after spending my first night sleeping in a room with total strangers, I got a call to come home because my dad was headed to the hospital. They called an ambulance and I was supposed to meet them there. When I got there, a nurse pulled me aside and told me he died. I remember the fluorescent lights glistening off the linoleum floors and all I could think was that I didn't get there in time. He had a heart attack. He was 50 years old. I was 18. Fast forward two years and I'm wrapping up my sophomore year of college. I'm at home with my mom and my brother when my mom brings up the idea of having surgery.
She wanted to lose weight, she said. My brother and I were kind of ambivalent about the surgery, but my mom had tried every diet and every workout program out there. And we didn't know what bariatric surgery was about. So she explained to us what it looked like and where she'd get it done and asked, do you think this is a good idea? Of course I agreed. My brother did too. You see, my mom was an OBGYN in Mexico before she moved to the United States. She told me once that her record was 13 babies in one night. And so she knew the risk of surgery and we trusted her. We always had. My mom moved to this country so that I might have a better life. She sacrificed her career and her family for safety and a better opportunity.
And so she did some research and she went to the best hospital in LA and she went with a surgeon who had a great reputation and she had the surgery. That was mistake number one. Her recovery was slow and hard. She was having a hard time keeping liquids down, including her beloved Coke Zero. You see, ordinarily, my mom was sharp and bright. She swore like a sailor, and she spoke a million miles an hour. But she was in pain, and she wasn't doing well, so we went back to the doctors. And we're in an exam room when a tall man in scrubs and a white coat walks in, a beacon of hope and confidence. And I tell him, hey, my mom recently had a sleeve gastrectomy and she's in pain. He nods and he listens and he says, let's get her some IV fluids to make sure she's not dehydrated.
This kind of pain is normal for somebody who recently had a bariatric procedure. And I was relieved when the nurse came in and hung a bag to my mom's IV. I felt like I had done my job. The doctor said this was normal and we trusted him. That was mistake number two.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:28
2
What sparked Pablo Romano’s decision to become a medical student?
0:28–8:41
3
How did Pablo’s mother’s elective bariatric surgery lead to complications?
8:41–16:46
4
What were the key moments during the emergency department visit after the surgery?
16:46–21:44
5
How did the medical team’s response influence Pablo’s view of patient care?
21:44–31:53
6
What insights does Pablo share about bias and gender in medical decision‑making?
31:53–38:16
7
How does Pablo reflect on the role of storytelling in processing grief?
38:16–38:17