by Reynold Conger

Created on: May 27, 2009

I suppose it is possible for a doctor to practice medicine with no emotional connection with his or her patients, but all of the good doctors have empathy for their patients. In many cases, the reason they went into medicine in the first place was out of a concern for hurting people suffering from disease.

Watching my grandfather practice medicine, I understood why the best doctors are those with the most empathy. My grandfather, during the flu pandemic of 1918, sat by the bed of a dying pregnant woman. As soon as she breathed her last, he performed a postmortem cesarean section. While the father of the child grieved the loss of his wife, he was thankful his son was saved. Likewise during the depression, my grandfather treated patients without regard for the chance for financial payment. In his semi-retirement, he called on retirees, who according to him needed the companionship more than the medical services he provided. My grandfather was motivated by a desire to ease suffering, is not that based on empathy?

It is true that a doctor can not internalize all of the pain and suffering of all of his patients. He himself would have a breakdown or at best lose his effectiveness. On the other hand, all medical professionals develop the ability to separate their personal psyches from the suffering they observe. They protect themselves by setting up a barrier that keeps their professional life out of their personal life. Nevertheless, it is important that said barrier not prevent the doctor from having empathy to understand the patient's pain and even the suffering of the patient's relatives.

The practice of medicine is an art. True, it uses scientific knowledge and methods, but it is an art. Without being able to get deep into the patient's pain, diagnosis is difficult. Without knowing how the disease and possible side effects of a treatment impact the very inner fiber of the patient's soul, it is difficult to deliver the best treatment.

My brother followed his grandfather into the practice of medicine. He tells of the heartbreak of following an ambulance at high speed through a snow storm to a distant hospital, knowing all the time that the young accident victim in that ambulance had a very limited prognosis, yet, empathy is what kept him going. His empathy and the empathy of a surgeon enabled the surgical team to successfully piece the boy back together. Empathy also make the victories sweeter when he can deliver to anxious relatives news that a patient will recover. Empathy in times of victory make up for the defeated feeling he has when he has to tell a teen aged girl that she has terminal cancer.

To some extent, empathy is required by all of our professions. Because doctors work with people, medicine is a profession where empathy is one of the most important tools available.

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