Sin-Eaters

"I was his sin-eater. In this moment of vulnerability, I was attempting to take his ills away, alleviate his pain, and internalize his grief. I had hope for his healing, but I knew his fate." Gillian Naro, first-year resident of internal medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, draws comparison between a medieval Welsh tradition and modern-day physician burnout. This essay was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the March 2021 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.