TY - JOUR T1 - Bearing Witness to Grief JF - The Annals of Family Medicine JO - Ann Fam Med SP - 564 LP - 565 DO - 10.1370/afm.2886 VL - 20 IS - 6 AU - Abigail Driscoll Y1 - 2022/11/01 UR - http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/6/564.abstract N2 - Minutes after starting my family medicine rotation, my first patient crumpled before my eyes. She shared a story of anguish and worry, overwhelmed with the grief of her partner’s unexpected death and consequential housing instability. As a medical student, I both underestimated and was underprepared for the pain of facing patients experiencing life-changing loss. It is one thing to read about structural trauma and deeply embedded inequalities; it is another to look into the eyes of the patients whose families are, in part, shaped by them. In this essay, I grapple with a myriad of emotions on my first day of family medicine—and contemplate the courage required to show up, wholeheartedly, for our patients. ER -