Maternl©

A Doctor's Work to Heal When We Cannot Cure
Presented by
Michael R Berman MD MBI FACOG

The Virgin Winter

Let us not succumb to this portent,
The solstice of our darkest hour.
For it is but a finite point
Upon an infinite journey
Which began with all creation and
Upon whose path walk
The souls of our children;
Pure as the silence of the virgin winter,
Alive with winds of indomitable hope

Ethos

Maternl is enabled by the agents of our humanity, empowered by our words, our language and ancestral songs of promise to heal when we cannot cure; the ultimate challenge to the bond between patient and doctor.

Maternl recognizes and addresses the care, attention and empathies required when parents experience the loss of a child through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal deaths.

Maternl reflects my career as a physician, an obstetrician, and introduces my personal philosophy and original poetry which above all enables me to ask why even when we already understand how. Poetry permits me as a doctor of medicine, witness to the frailties of our humanity, to abet healing through the very core of what makes us human; our language and our personal emotions.

I believe that we who have taken the "Oath" to practice our sacred profession of medicine and we who have committed ourselves to the healing arts must do so with the imperative to respect the sanctity of health for all those we treat - with a sense of high privilege-for they are the flesh and blood and souls of our humanity - past, present and future - and we, by our choice, their guardians. Here at Maternl, I, through my writings, poems, personal thoughts and unique programs strive to promote these tenets.

Michael R Berman MD MBI FACOG
Founder and Author

Request and Receive a Personalized Poem
Maternl is founded on a model of care I have practiced throughout my career; the use of language to help the grieving and healing process: words we write, words we read, and words we say and hear to serve as an invaluable source of solace and hope. I believe our words are songs from our hearts: "songs of hope and songs for hope." I have written and continue to write words and thoughts in letters of condolence when my patients have experienced a pregnancy, newborn or infant loss and include a personalized, original poem which I either send to them and / or at their memorial services / funerals. This program permts you to obtain a personalized, original poem to memorialize, honor or pay tribute

Join an Enduring Community for Pregnancy and Newborn Losses

A place and community for comfort, empathy, support and hope if you should experience a miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death including more original writings, poems, sharing and bereavement resources and excerpts from my book: Parenthood Lost.

Read Original Poetry and Writings

A selection from my collection of original poems writen for and dedicated to my patients to comfort at times of loss along with other essays, writings and thoughts.

Ephemeris Project-A place for Students and House Staff to share narrative stories

Primarily for health professional students and housestaff, here you may contribute your thoughts as you learn and experience the human aspects of caring. All information entered is anonymous unless you wish to identify your self in your comments. You will also find current periodic additions to my portfolio of poems, essays, citations and other writings to further express philosphies, concerns and elations.

GetCare (Get the Healthcare You Deserve)
Through this portal, GetCare provides the user with easy access to a database of geographic-specific Federally personalized letter of introduction for the user to the health care facility they select as one who needs help with their care, much like patients have a letters of referral to a doctor from another doctor. By having this introduction to prenatal care services GetCare addresses the lack of an advocate / provider, the lack of awareness of local healthcare facilities offering maternal and child health care services including prenatal care, a lack of understanding of the need for pre-natal care, albeit early care, the late diagnosis, recognition and acceptance of ones pregnancy, embarrassment and denial, and perhaps, shame, diminished self worth and dignity and a feeling of isolation without a place or professional to turn to for immediate care, counseling and accompanying advocacy. The letter itself is not a referral but an introduction. This service can be easily linked to local and regional social services so families in need can have their support as well.

My personal Blog of updated thoughts, poems and news

Here you will fnd my most recent contributions as I continue to write and share with my readers and students. These thoughts, poems and current updates portray my witness to the frailties of our humanity, and my striving to abet healing through the very core of what makes us human, our language and our personal emotions.

My Brief biography

I received my Doctor of Medicine Degree from New York Medical College and my Masters Degree in Biomedical Informatics from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) with an area of concentration on Personal Health Records.¹ I completed my Post Graduate Residency Training in Obstetrics and Gynecology and one year fellowship in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital. From 2016-2020, I was Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science and Associate Dean for Quality and Patient Safety for Graduate Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chief Patient Safety Officer and Ombuds at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, New York.

Prior to joining the faculty at Mount Sinai, I was in Clinical Practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale School of Medicine. In 1995, I founded the Hygeia Foundation for Perinatal Loss and Bereavement ² (now Hope After Loss) and am the author of numerous poems and essays documenting the human condition. I am also author of the book, Parenthood Lost, Healing the Pain After Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Death. In 2012, I joined the faculty and attending staff of the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center as the medical director of the Labor and Delivery Unit. I implemented the hospital's first full-time laborist program, which provided a structured, collaborative, patient-centric approach to improving the quality, safety, and patient experience on the labor floor. In 2017, I was appointed Chief Patient Safety Officer for Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and Associate Dean for Quality and Patient Safety in Graduate Medical Education. In this role, I led efforts at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) and the Health System to meet the goals of the Clinical Learning Environment Review Program developed by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.

Setting the tone-a few signature poems

This poem entitled Amare was written after my patient endured her third pregnancy loss. I feel this poem represents a most powerful message which prevails throughout Maternl.

Amare

Forlorn, with tears
And cries, am I.
To lose you to your death
Without but even gasp or sigh,
Save a wisp of Angels breath;
The darkest sorrow
I have known.
Yet, your image burnt in my
Soul is my gift, my grace,
And always will I see your face
Upon the simmer of
Placid ponds
And in the clouds where
Sunbeams hide
And raindrops form,
And I will speak kind words
And write of you
And sing in sweet demure,
In early morning's dew
And in the crown of daffodils
Which bloom amidst the storms
Swept cross my brow,
In every dream
In which it seems
You come to me.
My love forever
Do I avow.

A Poem for a Stillborn Child
I do not know

Even strangers from afar know of you
and the aura of your birth,
the darkened hope and hue
of stormy clouds that shadow streaming light,
and know the flawless shards of love
disguised in tear drops crying day and night
one by one, gleaned tears from loving faces
reach towards pinnacles of immortality and
makes us all believe that as the paces
of heart beats breach life itself,
love too ascends, cast heavenly
upon rainbows and shooting stars,
our gifts to comfort for eternity.

And in the longer nights of winter's liar,
your beauty can be seen by all
and in the frozen air where bellowed
breaths of hope inspire.

Though today it lives, a chrysalis,
laced in grief and pain,
one day it will awaken
when winters' snows spur springtime rain,
and fuse sadder thoughts with memories
while distant smiles will bind
eternal love with hope and promise,
even strangers from afar can find.

Obstare
A Poem reflecting my pain
as an Obstetrcian as I delivered
a stillborn baby

I have stood here before
When birth deceived and
Surrendered to my hands
The very spirit and soul of humanity;
The essence of life, save life itself .
And I have touched before
The angle hair and silken skin;
A child lay bare, still and silent
In these outstretched hands
As my will cried out
To scream a breath of life
Into pale lips
Now frozen in the mist
Of endless dreams.
Yet today I smile
As I have smiled before,
For from such drear
Comes a voice;
A voice, so serene
That it transforms
The searing pain felt in
Our hearts into song;
Melting stones of sorrow
Into liquors of love,
Forever a memory
Of your dear Child.