The Bridge with David Muller, MD
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What is the context and purpose of this episode of The Nocturnists?
Hello, Nocturneus Listeners, it's Emily. In case you missed last week's episode, we are back. We're picking up where we left off with season three of our podcast last spring. Just so you know, these stories and conversations were recorded back in twenty nineteen, before the events of twenty twenty upended our lives. So listen with that context in mind. Today is Giving Tuesday. What better way to support the healthcare community and storytelling than by making a donation to the nocturnists? Visit thenocturnist.com slash donate for more information. Here's our show.
At the Nocturinous, 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.
A quick warning. This episode of The Nocturnist includes themes of mental health crises and suicidal actions. Listener discretion is advised.
This is The Nocturnist, Stories from the World of Medicine. I'm Emily Silverman. Today I talk to David Muller, an internal medicine doctor and the dean for medical education at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
What makes caring real and not just something we do professionally?
But first, we'll hear the story that he told about how he wound up trying to save a life outside the hospital. Here's David.
So m my story takes place on a hot, muggy Friday afternoon in August. Uh it was the end of a long day. Actually it was the end of a very long week. Um and just to add some frame of reference, my my role, my work um is in medical education. I'm dean for medical education at a medical school in New York City called Mount Sinai. We had spent the entire week prior to this Friday ramping up for Orientation when the incoming class of medical students come in and try to provide for them an experience entering medical school that would inspire them and kind of energize them for the journey ahead. Inspiration obviously is a tall order, especially for a room full of 140 people, and especially if you don't like public speaking.
So the week was pretty stressful.
How does Dr. David Muller describe the hot, muggy Friday that led to the bridge incident?
It was actually more stressful than usual because that frame. Friday, the same hot muggy Friday, was the one year anniversary almost to the day of the death of one of our graduating students by suicide. She had died exactly a year ago, and her death had obviously shaken us, all of us, to our core. When she took her life, it was exactly the third day of medical school for that year's incoming class. And now, coming up on the anniversary and a new class, I I really wasn't sure what I could possibly say to the incoming students in the wake of that tragedy. And so on that hot muggy afternoon on Friday I was commuting back home and my commute is from Mount Sinai, which is in Manhattan, to New Jersey, where I live.
And it's a little bit unusual 'cause it's a commute by bicycle. It's only eleven miles, even though you've got to cross a river and you've got to go over the George Washington Bridge, but the benefits are obvious. You get lots of aerobic exercise, there's no traffic, you don't pay the tolls, I don't have to worry about parking in Manhattan. I actually see lots of big sky and the entire length of the city every time I cross the bridge. So it's definitely worth it. So this Friday afternoon I'm riding home, trying to leave the week's tensions behind, focusing my mind on getting home and unwinding and maybe even having that first cold beer. And if you've seen or been over the George Washington Bridge, you know that there are two huge towers and it's a suspension bridge.
So you ride up this switchback, and I'm passing the first tower, the one that's on the New York side. And just as I get past the tower, maybe fifty feet in front of me, there's a bicycle laying on its side on the pedestrian pathway where I'm riding. And my first thought was that someone must have fallen off of the bicycle, but almost in the same instance, I'm still moving, I see someone standing closer to me than the bicycle on his cell phone and talking into it in a pretty animated way.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the context and purpose of this episode of The Nocturnists?
0:00–2:28
2
How does Dr. David Muller describe the hot, muggy Friday that led to the bridge incident?
2:28–5:41
3
What did Dr. Muller see on the George Washington Bridge that sparked the rescue attempt?
5:41–8:41
4
How did Dr. Muller intervene and what was the man’s reaction on the bridge?
8:41–12:33
5
What role did the New Jersey transit police play in resolving the situation?
12:33–15:50
6
How does Dr. Muller reflect on caring versus pretending to care after the bridge event?
15:50–20:34
7
What insights does Dr. Muller share about truth‑bending, vulnerability, and authentic caring in medicine?
20:34–25:09
8
What key takeaways does the host highlight about real caring and the episode’s closing thoughts?
25:09–28:29