The Virtue of Charity and the Art of Medicine
Jane Abbottsmith, MPhil, MAR, PhD. Candidate, Yale University
The original Hippocratic oath speaks of medicine as an art. Medicine is indeed one of the few professions to retain a system of apprenticeship—residency—by which the “art” is handed down from teacher to student. Yet some healthcare providers believe that this approach to medicine is being lost, that scarce time and excess paperwork leave them feeling like mere replaceable parts in a modern machine. In the name of patient autonomy, the ancient mission to promote the patient’s health is being displaced by the fulfillment of the patient’s wishes. Yet when this approach threatens to make healthcare a commodity and to render the physician little more than a “scalpel for hire,” to borrow the words of Leon Kass, it is not difficult to understand why medical practitioners may feel disenchanted. This paper proposes a way to re-enchant contemporary medicine by returning to the ancient conception of medicine as an art. Through reflection on the Hippocratic tradition and with the help of Christian virtue ethics, a characterization of medicine not simply as a career, but as a vocation, comes to light. This is a vocation oriented toward love for the neighbor, inspired by the theological virtue of charity, and described most poignantly two millennia ago in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story of lavish care provided by a stranger to a man in distress. And it is a vocation in which the doctor is a person of virtue, a steward of life-giving knowledge, and a practitioner of the noble art of medicine.
The original Hippocratic oath speaks of medicine as an art. Medicine is indeed one of the few professions to retain a system of apprenticeship—residency—by which the “art” is handed down from teacher to student. Yet some healthcare providers believe that this approach to medicine is being lost, that scarce time and excess paperwork leave them feeling like mere replaceable parts in a modern machine. In the name of patient autonomy, the ancient mission to promote the patient’s health is being displaced by the fulfillment of the patient’s wishes. Yet when this approach threatens to make healthcare a commodity and to render the physician little more than a “scalpel for hire,” to borrow the words of Leon Kass, it is not difficult to understand why medical practitioners may feel disenchanted. This paper proposes a way to re-enchant contemporary medicine by returning to the ancient conception of medicine as an art. Through reflection on the Hippocratic tradition and with the help of Christian virtue ethics, a characterization of medicine not simply as a career, but as a vocation, comes to light. This is a vocation oriented toward love for the neighbor, inspired by the theological virtue of charity, and described most poignantly two millennia ago in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story of lavish care provided by a stranger to a man in distress. And it is a vocation in which the doctor is a person of virtue, a steward of life-giving knowledge, and a practitioner of the noble art of medicine.