Love's Proper Place in the Medical Encounter
Andrew Miller, PhD. Student, Duke University
The physician – patient relationship is sui generis, unique. Through the trust in confidentiality and the desire for healing patients bare their souls, relaying details they have never told anyone else, even their spouse, about their feelings, hurts, hopes, and dreams. Yet the relationship does not end with words. A visit to the doctor may necessitate examining the body, even the most hidden, most sacred parts, perhaps even to permit oneself to be put into a paralytic coma and incised in surgery. A relationship this encompassing mandates a morality and an etiquette, but where does one even begin to find the language to describe such complex interaction? There are numerous books on the subject, but their content is of more interest to philosophers than physicians. What is needed is a succinct way to encompass everything at once, a rich word containing compassion, altruism, professionalism, empathy, comfort, encouragement, humility, and competency. I argue that word is love, however modern healthcare strongly disavows any connection. We are quick to recognize love as an integral component of every other important relationship we enter, so why is it exempt here? Perhaps it is a misunderstanding to be remedied; clarified though analysis of what it truly means to demonstrate love. Love, to our modern society, is a diluted word. We love our wives, our dogs, and even our cheeseburgers. When someone says they “love” it can mean something, or nothing at all. Other languages have much richer, more powerful words for love, so in order to understand why love is the best descriptor we must first sharpen our definition. With a powerful definition we can then look to find a model of a loving relationship to act as a lens through which to apply our definition to the doctor patient relationship. Over the course of this essay we will review ideas of love encompassed from words in Greek, Hebrew, French, English, and Hindi as well models of loving relationships from some of those respective cultures. Ultimately I believe love, as defined from Greek and Hebrew sources, offers an encompassing definition which when viewed through the lens of Christology and 1st Corinthians 13 can provide a model to help us better understand interactions between physicians and patients.
The physician – patient relationship is sui generis, unique. Through the trust in confidentiality and the desire for healing patients bare their souls, relaying details they have never told anyone else, even their spouse, about their feelings, hurts, hopes, and dreams. Yet the relationship does not end with words. A visit to the doctor may necessitate examining the body, even the most hidden, most sacred parts, perhaps even to permit oneself to be put into a paralytic coma and incised in surgery. A relationship this encompassing mandates a morality and an etiquette, but where does one even begin to find the language to describe such complex interaction? There are numerous books on the subject, but their content is of more interest to philosophers than physicians. What is needed is a succinct way to encompass everything at once, a rich word containing compassion, altruism, professionalism, empathy, comfort, encouragement, humility, and competency. I argue that word is love, however modern healthcare strongly disavows any connection. We are quick to recognize love as an integral component of every other important relationship we enter, so why is it exempt here? Perhaps it is a misunderstanding to be remedied; clarified though analysis of what it truly means to demonstrate love. Love, to our modern society, is a diluted word. We love our wives, our dogs, and even our cheeseburgers. When someone says they “love” it can mean something, or nothing at all. Other languages have much richer, more powerful words for love, so in order to understand why love is the best descriptor we must first sharpen our definition. With a powerful definition we can then look to find a model of a loving relationship to act as a lens through which to apply our definition to the doctor patient relationship. Over the course of this essay we will review ideas of love encompassed from words in Greek, Hebrew, French, English, and Hindi as well models of loving relationships from some of those respective cultures. Ultimately I believe love, as defined from Greek and Hebrew sources, offers an encompassing definition which when viewed through the lens of Christology and 1st Corinthians 13 can provide a model to help us better understand interactions between physicians and patients.
