January 30, 2021

Joe Mercuri M.D., Hospitalist

I was a classical pianist. My hero, for a number of reasons, is Beethoven–the struggles and triumphs that he underwent and his personal metamorphosis as he developed in life and in music.

I remember coming across an automobile accident one time with my father. People were hurt. That moment was pivotal for me. I thought, ‘it would be awfully nice to know what to do in these situations.’ My mother was a hardworking emergency room nurse. She really taught me how to be compassionate.

When I heard there was a hospitalist program in the St. Cloud area I pounced on it. I remember having a patient who we were trying to…well, it was a very difficult situation. He and his family were really struggling whether to continue with care. He was a very insightful patient, but he couldn’t really come to grips with whether or not he wanted to try aggressive treatment–which for his condition probably wasn’t going to help a lot. I was trying to couch the dying process in euphemisms. Finally one day he said to me, ‘you know, Doc, I figured it out. I’ll just let nature take its course.’ He came up with his own euphemism; this was the phrase that made sense to him.

There’s so much mystery in everything we do in life. When I go back and look at my core values in my life, really one of those values is service and serving people.