IVF offers help to childless couples

One of my lawyer friends opted not to study medicine at university because he hated night duty. It remains the most trying part of the medical profession. In my view it makes the medical profession a calling rather than a job. And to be interrupted from that nice soccer match or formula one race or tennis or a movie by an emergency call can be destabilizing, especially if the call is at 1am in the night.

That however is exactly what happened when my phone rang and the anesthetist on the other end informed me that she had been requested by the obstetrician to call in immediately. Not to consult me, but for me to drive to the hospital urgently, over 20kms away. “Is that an emergency, needing my presence?” I asked. “Yes,” she answered, “it’s a mother who started experiencing labour at 32 weeks (just under eight months); and now the labour is progressing poorly.