White coats, heavy hearts: What to expect as a med student after your first patient death

White coats, heavy hearts: What to expect as a med student after your first patient death 
Medscape; by David Brzostowicki; 5/21/25 
The first death of a patient represents a profound emotional turning point that reverberates throughout one’s career as a physician. In that critical moment, the shield of clinical detachment gives way to inevitable self-reflection. Daryl Eber, MD, recalls a jarring case of an intubated patient who extubated himself and quickly died after coding. The incident occurred in 2005 while Eber was doing rounds as a medical student at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center (renamed UF Health Jacksonville) in Jacksonville, Florida. Although the patient was not in his direct care, the swiftness with which death took the man has lingered with Eber for two decades.