One For Whom The Bell Tolled

"Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls, 

It tolls for thee."

-John Donne

James A. Mahoney, M.D., died on April 27, 2020 after having contracted COVID-19 approximately two weeks earlier. He likely was stricken either while treating ICU patients at University Hospital of Brooklyn, which was his full-time gig at which he worked every day, or while treating patients across the street at Kings County Hospital, which is how he spent his evenings.  In the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 virus' assault on New York City and its hospitals, Dr. Mahoney consistently headed into danger to help patients and his fellow doctors and nurses treating them. 

Dr. Mahoney spent just about four decades at University Hospital of Brooklyn, first as a student in the early 1980's and, thereafter, as a pulmonary and critical care physician.  University Hospital of Brooklyn is part of the SUNY system and Dr. Mahoney was also Professor Mahoney, helping educate future generations of physicians.  Those closest to him expressed two prevailing sentiments discussing him after his death.  First, while he was an extraordinary physician he was an even more extraordinary human.  Second, the impact of his loss is immeasurable.  

Too often these days the focus of the debate in this country centers on numbers.  How many thousands have died?  How many millions are out of work?  The big picture is important, of course.  Its importance though is reflected perhaps best of all in the realization that the "big picture" is the amalgam of countless individuals, each of whom is a little picture, and each of whom stands alone in addition to being a component part of the larger tapestry.  

No man is an island. Each is a part of the main.  

-AK