Agape Love- A Foundational Ethic for the Faithful Practice of Medicine
Anna Berry, MD, MTS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
What lies at the core of excellent doctoring? Though posing this question to various medical personnel would assuredly prompt a multitude of responses, it is widely acknowledged by the medical community that the non-judgmental care of ill persons is central to the practice of excellent and ethical medicine. We see this in the EMTALA legislation, the treatment of bacterial endocarditis in an individual who struggles with IV drug use, and in the care provided to those who forego vaccines only to find themselves in an intensive care unit under our care for preventable illnesses. Though this is widely accepted in the secular spaces of medical practice, how might we be able to give a robust account that attests to why we should practice in this way?
In this paper, I assert that love is the foundation of good doctoring. I specifically draw from the concept of agape love that is central to the Christian tradition as articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr.: a “neighbor regarding love for others” that makes no distinction between worthy and unworthy, friend and enemy. I demonstrate how this understanding of agape love might form a lens through which to practice medicine and gives a foundation to the principles commonly employed in modern medical ethics. In doing so, I hope to suggest that there not only remains space for the sacred within the secular, but that often the sacred can be found at the core of our secular notions.
In this paper, I assert that love is the foundation of good doctoring. I specifically draw from the concept of agape love that is central to the Christian tradition as articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr.: a “neighbor regarding love for others” that makes no distinction between worthy and unworthy, friend and enemy. I demonstrate how this understanding of agape love might form a lens through which to practice medicine and gives a foundation to the principles commonly employed in modern medical ethics. In doing so, I hope to suggest that there not only remains space for the sacred within the secular, but that often the sacred can be found at the core of our secular notions.