![]() Based on what he learned as surgeon general, he's written a book about a major public health problem that is often hidden from view. In 2014, he moved to Washington, D.C., for a new role - surgeon general of the United States. That journey took him to Boston and New Haven, Conn. But it was my parents who taught me from the earliest ages that we don't have to wait until the end of life in order to recognize and act on the power of connection.VEDANTAM: This week on HIDDEN BRAIN - the importance of relationships, the hazards of loneliness and how we can all live more connected lives.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)VEDANTAM: Many years after the night when Vivek Murthy watched his parents comfort the grieving widow of a patient who had died, he left Miami to pursue his own medical career. That's the clarity that we get at the end of life. One lesson that has stayed with him is something he learned that night when he was 7.V MURTHY: In the final moments when only the most meaningful strands of life remain, it's really our human connections that rise to the top. He has experienced what it's like to be at the bedside of sick patients, to comfort the families of the dying. And in that moment, you know, it struck me that their lives were so different, Ruth's and my mother's, but in that moment, they were family like, not the kind of family that's chosen for you but the kind that you choose for yourself.VEDANTAM: Vivek is now a physician himself. And to this day, I will never forget, like, the image of my mother in her traditional sari standing on the steps of that trailer illuminated by the moonlight and embracing Gordon's wife, Ruth, as they both cried and cried. ![]() And we were driving to a trailer park in Miami where Gordon lived because my parents were worried that his widow, Ruth, would be grieving alone. As they raced through the night in the car.V MURTHY: My parents told me that their patient, Gordon, had just died after a long struggle with metastatic cancer. She rushed him and his sister into their car.VIVEK MURTHY: I remember piling back into the backseat, and my sister was sleepy sitting next to me.VEDANTAM: Vivek's parents, who were immigrants from India, ran a medical practice in Miami. Vivek Murthy was 7 years old when his mom woke him up one night long after he'd gone to sleep. SHANKAR VEDANTAM, HOST: This is HIDDEN BRAIN. Our transcripts are provided by various partners and may contain errors or deviate slightly from the audio. The transcript below may be for an earlier version of this episode.
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