Skip to main content

Teaching Empathy in Medicine - Lessons from an IV Drug Abuser

We’ve all heard the excuse or explanation that ‘it’s society’s fault’, to explain someone’s failure.  We hear expressions like this often when an individual has committed a crime or simply failed to succeed.  Personal accountability is diluted as we are told that this person came from an imperfect home, had no role models or ample education.

These arguments are often wielded by those who have been favored with society’s blessings and advantages.

As readers here know, I am not politically liberal and regard myself as an independent who usually votes for Republican candidates.  I did vote for Senator Sherrod Brown, one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate, a fact that astonished friends and family, as I had concerns about the character of his opponent that I could not overcome.  I am proud of this vote. 

Were you born next to a ladder?

A 19-year-old female was sent to me to evaluate hepatitis C.  She was unemployed.  She had used intravenous needles years ago and resumed using them a few weeks before she saw me.  Hepatitis C was not the immediate medical priority here. 

I felt that I was facing an individual who inhabited an alternative universe from mine.  While I am speculating, I surmise that she faced choices through her life that I never had to confront.  What narrative, I wondered, could this young woman have had that would lead her to her present destination, where she would be self-injecting poison into her body?   I am not relieving her of personal accountability for the decisions that she has made.  Adverse circumstances do not guarantee failure.  Indeed, we all know phenomenal people who have overcome incredible adversity and long odds to achieve and inspire.  I wish that their methods were contagious.  The woman before me, at least so far, was not one of these individuals.

Perhaps, she came into this world unwanted and unloved.  She may not have had adults in her life to build her self-worth and to help guide her.  Maybe, education was a closed pathway for her.  What caliber peer group was available to take her in to soothe her rejection? 

My point is that it’s always easier to judge someone’s failures from higher ground.   Would many of us have reached higher ground if we weren’t born with a ladder that was set up beside us to ascend? 

I’m all for personal responsibility and accountability.   I’m also making a case for empathy, a virtue that has not always been as strong as it should have been in my own life.  

If our ladder breaks and we crash, how would we like to be treated?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

When Should Doctors Retire?

I am asked with some regularity whether I am aiming to retire in the near term.  Years ago, I never received such inquiries.  Why now?   Might it be because my coiffure and goatee – although finely-manicured – has long entered the gray area?  Could it be because many other even younger physicians have given up their stethoscopes for lives of leisure? (Hopefully, my inquiring patients are not suspecting me of professional performance lapses!) Interestingly, a nurse in my office recently approached me and asked me sotto voce that she heard I was retiring.    “Interesting,” I remarked.   Since I was unaware of this retirement news, I asked her when would be my last day at work.   I have no idea where this erroneous rumor originated from.   I requested that my nurse-friend contact her flawed intel source and set him or her straight.   Retirement might seem tempting to me as I have so many other interests.   Indeed, reading and studying, two longstanding personal pleasures, could be ext

The VIP Syndrome Threatens Doctors' Health

Over the years, I have treated various medical professionals from physicians to nurses to veterinarians to optometrists and to occasional medical residents in training. Are these folks different from other patients?  Are there specific challenges treating folks who have a deep knowledge of the medical profession?   Are their unique risks to be wary of when the patient is a medical professional? First, it’s still a running joke in the profession that if a medical student develops an ordinary symptom, then he worries that he has a horrible disease.  This is because the student’s experience in the hospital and the required reading are predominantly devoted to serious illnesses.  So, if the student develops some constipation, for example, he may fear that he has a bowel blockage, similar to one of his patients on the ward.. More experienced medical professionals may also bring above average anxiety to the office visit.  Physicians, after all, are members of the human species.  A pulmon

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier.  There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform.  Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele.  It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance.  For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings?  If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits?  The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform.   Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat.   The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families.   Indeed, even today