A concise summary of the history of the doctor-patient relationship: It began with reverence and respect for the physician, changed dramatically in the 20th century, is in an unhappy state today, but may aspire to something more satisfying in the future. (emphasis added)
There is no figure more ambivalent than the doctor, who is simultaneously a preacher, a magician, and a healer, the master of both life and death. For a long time the image of him oscillated between two extremes: that of an arrogant practitioner intoxicated by his power and endowed with all the attributes of knowledge; and that of the family doctor, the tutelary divinity of French society who knew how to combine sound, precise diagnosis with friendly advice about what to do. …
Everything changed when medicine became specialized and liberalized. In the hands of a specialist, not only is the human body fragmented, but each part of it is subject to competing authorities. The result of this new status is that in dealing with a physician we oscillate between faith and absolute suspicion. Since he is supposed to know everything, a doctor has no right to be mistaken. … The contemporary patient is a skeptic who does not believe in any treatment but tries them all, combining homeopathy, acupuncture, sophrology, and allopathy, a little like new converts who embrace several religions to increase their chances.
The more we expect from medicine in general (and today we ask everything of it, including the impossible, total recovery and victory over death), the more we grow impatient with the limits of doctors in particular. Medical science’s individual servants are crushed under the weight of its promises, becoming commonplace and losing their authority; they are simple service providers who can be sued – often justifiably, moreover – if they commit an error. While the medical researcher, the scientist, and some surgeons whose skill amounts to genuine artistic genius retain immense prestige, in many cases the doctor is now seen only as a repairman who gets the machine running again until the next breakdown.
However, it is not clear that we are doomed to this fragmentary medicine, which often seems more like plumbing. Sometimes, fortunately, a communication is established between patients and physicians that is not merely utilitarian and allows the former to talk about their suffering, to make their symptoms part of a personal history. Then the relationship, instead of being inegalitarian, a relationship between a mandarin who orders and a patient who obeys, becomes an exchange and a contract in which two actors who are conscious of their limits try together, in mutual respect, to achieve the best cure possible. Perhaps the future lies in a union of the specialist’s competence with the human understanding of the general practitioner.
From Pascal Bruckner’s Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy
Related posts:
The doctor-patient relationship: What have we lost?
The esteem of the medical profession: Then and now
Out of Practice: The demise of the primary care practitioner
The emotional burdens of patient care
The duty to be happy
The unavoidable and burdensome responsibility to be happy
Resources:
Image: The Art of Patient Care
Pascal Bruckner, Perpetual Euphoria: On the Duty to Be Happy
Hello, My ex daughter in law and doctors are slowly turning my grandson into a zombie. The doctor keeps trying new medicines on my grandson and his mother goes alone with anything that knocks him out. My son has complained, argued with doctor and ex wife. You know how that goes in a liberal world screwed up by idiot politicians an attorneys etc. I tell you people today have no common sense. My grandson has been on these medicines for A.D.D. I say he is all boy and has no problem, its his drug using dead beat mother who has the problem. My grandson is very small for his age and I say it is the drugs he has been on for the last 5 years which is almost half his life, this sucks I tell you. Well I think doctors are driven by $$$ not good care or concern for my grandson. I live in Iowa 641-919-2037 laddy172002@yahoo.com I will say goodbye, thanks for listening. Ron