March 2nd: For schoolwork, went to Kobe to observe the “Remember Kobe” counseling group for families of suicide victims. It’s a good place for people to share their feelings and get support from others going through similar experiences. No pictures were allowed, as everything has to be confidential. It was my third trip to that group.

I can share about myself, of course. In the past, I talked about my experiences and such, and people were very interested to hear about the situation in America and in American schools. This time, I talked about the suicide problem from the point of somebody going into the medical field. At some level, I can’t disagree with euthanasia or doctor-assisted self-death in some cases. I feel very conflicted about the issue whenever I read about it in the news or learn about it in school. As a doctor, of course I would never do anything illegal…but I also believe that a physician’s job is to ease pain and suffering, and to listen to the needs of the patient. Of course I am absolutely against suicide. We are losing too many people to this problem and there are things society can do. but in the case of a terminally-ill patient in severe pain, with no hope of getting better….I just don’t know anymore! This is probably a problem I will have to think about later in my career…I wonder how laws in America surrounding this problem will have evolved by then. ( And there was a symposium on March 9th! )