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Presidential Address

Patient Versus Customer, Technology Versus Touch: Where Has Humanism Gone?

Department of Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Reed, Medical University of South Carolina, 25 Courtenay Dr, Suite 7018, Charleston, SC 29425 (Email: reedce@musc.edu).

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 

We practice medicine today in an environment of amazing and ever changing technology, in a sea of pharmaceuticals, and in a system that is money and customer driven. Computerized databases and sophisticated images dominate our practices and allow us to make decisions from remote locations. It is difficult to fathom how we would function in a medical world devoid of the tools, "toys," and treatments of today. Yet, prior to the 20th century, the physician's most powerful and oldest "instrument" was the laying on of hands. Often little else could be done except this simple act of compassion. In fact, the laying on of the hand developed into a scientific skill and became an important diagnostic tool. Feeling the pulse, palpating the abdomen, and percussing the chest were skills honed over time. They not only helped in the formulation of a diagnosis, the patient and the doctor were connected by touch.

How could humanism become separated from medicine? Webster's dictionary defines humanism as "a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests and values" [1]. Is not medicine centered on the patient, a human being who is ill? Unfortunately, there are forces that conspire against humanism. Many of these forces are not physician driven, but we have succumbed to them, and by our acquiescence we shape the next generation of doctors.

	Forces That Dehumanize Medical Care

 
In the book, "Money-Driven Medicine," author Maggie Mahar [2] details the road to corporate medicine that results in increasing costs, less efficient and unnecessary or inferior health care, which intensifies the rivalry between doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug makers, and device makers. This book is worthy of your consideration.

In the corporate model of health care, the patient is a customer and the physician is a retailer. The doctor can not be the patient's . . . [Full Text of this Article]