Always a Lonely Place

I screwed up today. A dairy farm family was pinning their hopes - on me - to save the genetics of a prize cow which had died suddenly. We got the ovaries, aspirated the eggs, but then I mixed them up in the lab during fertilization. It was a simple mistake and a sloppy mistake and it was my fault. MY FAULT. Of course I feel terrible – and embarrassed – and stupid. And as the lab director I must also face the family and admit that it was my mistake and take responsibility for it. It sucks. Today really sucks. In the medical and veterinary profession, mistakes are injurious and very serious. It’s not my first mistake or my last but it never gets any easier to face. It’s a very lonely place.

- Just a peasant

Photo by Ivonne Atmojo

For Christina

Christina Pattison was a friend I met in graduate school. She married Zachary Fehrenbach in 2005 and was a second year medical student. She was a very funny person and a really great scientist. Sadly she died in a car accident on February 2nd.

- Just a peasant