The desired moral attitude of the physician: (I) empathy

Abstract

In professional medical ethics, the physician traditionally is obliged to fulfil specific duties as well as to embody a responsible and trustworthy personality. In the public discussion, different concepts are suggested to describe the desired underlying attitude of physicians. In this article, one of them--empathy--is presented in an interpretation that is meant to depicture (together with the two additional concepts compassion and care) this attitude. Therefore empathy in the clinical context is defined as the adequate understanding of the inner processes of the patient concerning his health-related problems. Adequacy is scrutinized on behalf of the emotional and subjective involvement of he physician, and on the necessary dependence on medical-moral-goals. In the present interpretation, empathy alone is no guarantee of the right moral attitude, but a necessary instrumental skill in order to perceive and treat a patient as an individual person. The concepts of compassion and care that will be discussed in two forthcoming articles are necessary parts to describe the desired moral attitude of the physician more completely.

Managing barriers to empathy in the clinical encounter: a qualitative interview study with GPs

“…Ethicists such as Gelhaus point to the depth of emotional participation of GPs in enabling adequate empathic understanding. 35 Previous theoretically oriented studies describe similar ideas about working on the boundary of selfother awareness. It is stated that mental flexibility, self-critical analysis, and selfknowledge help in maintaining a clear selfother separation.…”

Communicating with a Human Voice: Developing a Relational Model of Empathy

“…a desirable character trait. 11,28,60 Support Doctors and medical students need support in enhancing their empathetic skills, and this may involve addressing some of the barriers blocking their innate empathy.…”

Empathizing with patients: the role of interaction and narratives in providing better patient care

“…By following in these footsteps, students train themselves to have different dispositions-ones that do not cause them to react empathetically to their patients-entrapping medical students and physicians alike in a vicious circle. This points to the scientific attitude-as it has been adapted for medicine-as being an underlying cause of the lack of empathy (Eikeland et al 2014, p. 3;Gelhaus 2012a;Halpern 2001Halpern , 2011Hojat et al 2009Hojat et al , pp. 1188Hojat et al -1189.…”

“…As noted earlier, empathy is polysemic. Some discuss empathy as an isolated experience, others as a group of different experiences that can be applied in different situations (Halpern 2014, p. 304), and still others who think empathy alone is not enough, and must be supplemented with other experiences like sympathy and care (De Vignemont and Jacob 2012;Gelhaus 2012aGelhaus , b, 2013Svenaeus 2015).…”