Surgery Intern Unknowingly Fasting for Ramadan

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ Millions of Muslims worldwide have been engaged in the holy tradition of Ramadan.Ý Observance of this annual month-long holiday includes refraining from all food, water, and sexual intercourse from dawn to dusk for the duration of Ramadan.Ý This sacrifice is incredibly taxing and is drawn from complete devotion.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ Because of the strain this poses to health, there are those Muslims who are exempted from the month-long fast, namely the sick, pregnant, and nursing.Ý A new revelation is that there are those who practice the fast, but are doing so completely by accident.

 

ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ One of these is first-year surgery resident Mark Kauffman.Ý Although he grew up in a small southern town, completely unexposed to Muslim culture, Dr. Kauffman has been engaged in what Muslim religious leaders have been calling ìan unprecedented display of devotionî.Ý

 

Columbia local Omar Rahman encountered Dr. Kauffman during a recent hospitalization.Ý ìDr. Kauffman was taking care of me following my gall bladder surgery.Ý He would come in to check on me early in the morning and continue to do so until the late evening.Ý One day he mentioned that he was quite hungry.Ý On further query, I learned that his daily routine had been to eat before coming into work, but he would not have the opportunity to eat or drink throughout the day.Ý His next taste of sustenance would not be until much later in the day, long after sunset.î

 

Dr. Kauffman commented ìI guess that I really didnít know what I was getting into with whole surgery intern thing.Ý Pretty much everyday I come in before the crack of dawn.Ý I keep bouncing around between our floor patients, the OR, lectures, and the other random scut-work that needs to be done.Ý By the end of the day, I realize that not only have I not had anything to eat or drink, I havenít even used the bathroom.î

 

Mr. Rahman said ìI asked him how long he had been engaged in this practice.Ý He said he had been doing it since July and wouldnít get a break until late December.Ý I was amazed at the manís devotion.Ý I informed him that Ramadan was only a month long.Ý That didnít seem to change his practice at all.î

 

Dr. Kauffman commented on the interaction with Mr. Rahman.Ý ìAt first I thought that Ramadan was the name of one of the new pediatric surgeons.Ý Iím still not really sure what Ramadan is, but if it anything like the surgery intern year, count me out.Ý No way Iím doing this every year.î

 

Mr. Rahman has been using the example set by Dr. Kauffman to encourage his own children to be more devout with their faith.Ý ìI have a hard time getting my elder son to take interest in our religious practices.Ý I think I will try to arrange him to meet Dr. Kauffman so that he can see the example that he has set.î