If you were asked to say what is the essence of medicine, I wonder what you’d say?
Something about “evidence based” or “scientific” or “effective treatment”?
Well, David Sokol, a lecturer in Ethics and Law took this as his subject for an article in this week’s BMJ. He reports attending a clinical neurology class at his local medical school and witnessing a patient with Motor Neurone Disease becoming upset when asked what she had been told about her disease. He sees the neurologist comfort her by taking her hand, and he says this –
As I watched him comfort the patient, my thoughts returned to Selzer’s essay and his concluding words: “Out of the resonance between the sick man and the one who tends him there may spring that profound courtesy that the religious call Love.” As I read this, it occurred to me that Paracelsus in the 16th century and the late French haematologist Jean Bernard also claimed that medicine was grounded on love.
and this –
The words of Paracelsus, Bernard, and Selzer, which hours earlier sounded fuzzy, now rang out with a newfound clarity. I saw, for the first time, the very essence of medicine.
Impressive. Very impressive.
I’ve often said that if I am ever ill and need a doctor I want one who, frankly, gives a damn! I want him or her to care whether or not I am suffering and for that to be the basis of their choices.
Heroes Not Zombies 
I really think that EVERYTHING we do should be predicated on love.
I’m with you – one of the reasons I like my doctors is because I believe they care about me. They remember my name, they ask about what’s happening in my world, they tell me stories about what’s happening in theirs. When I’m sick and scared and in pain, I want someone to stroke my forehead and hold my hand and generally make me feel safe and loved. Even if they can do nothing to cure my sickness, these gestures would soothe me.
It’s such a simple thing, this human kindness; I wish more people practiced it in their everyday lives.
Dr. Bob,
I try to look at my patient’s situation and decide what I would want done if it were me or my family member, and listen to them to see what they want to do.
If I do that every time, we usually come up with a reasonable answer.
Dr. B
You and I are total like mind chili – and you and me too Dr B!
Mind chili – what a great expression!
What seems true to me is this: if we all lived our natural expression of love – through work, service and relationship – we’d all be much happier, healthier, saner people living in a sustainable world guided by authenticity, meaning and purpose.