The South African Civil Society Information Service

Are You Just the Hernia in Ward Two Or Are You a Real Person to the Doctor?

23 Jul 2011

Talking about the relationship between medicine and humanism, Oliver Sacks, Professor of Neurology & Psychiatry at Columbia University argues that the human element, i.e., talking with patients about how they are experiencing their lives with a medical condition, needs to be an essential part of medicine, which is sadly lost in today's world of mass medicine.

Sacks contends that there is a tendency in the medical fraternity to just give a diagnosis and then forget it…but people have to live with things, and doctors need to understand what life is like for people suffering from medical problems, as opposed to just treating a disease or ailment. 

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You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/402.19.