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The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine |
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Spirituality, Religious Wisdom, and the Care of the PatientDignity: Introduction Alan B. Astrow, M.D. Our Dec. 3, 2001 conference was entitled "Dignity and the Care of the Patient: An Islamic-Catholic Dialogue." As we were deciding on which cases it would make sense to present to our two speakers, we realized that while, respecting the patient's dignity is a crucial task for health care professionals, it is difficult to pin down exactly what we mean by dignity in patient care. For most patients it appears to be related to the desire to be treated "as a human being" not as simply a body or a number. In many ways, falling ill is an undignified experience, an experience which may be compounded by our well-intentioned efforts to save the critically ill. Respecting the patient's dignity requires first and as a minimum that we provide thorough, knowledgeable, and attentive medical care to the patient according to the highest standards of our professions. The ultimate indignity is to die or suffer disability prematurely and unnecessarily. In this series, we are asking our speakers and our audience to consider whether a superimposed religious mandate adds another dimension, an added layer of protection to what we hope to learn in the course of our professional training. Might a religiously grounded sensibility strengthen our sense of professionalism or broaden the definition of what we mean by professionalism? Might religious voices in health care stimulate needed reflection and discussion among health care professionals about the meaning of human dignity and our roles in defending the patient against the many assaults and affronts to their dignity that illness may present? Conversely, what are the risks associated with a religious outlook in health care in situations in which the meaning of dignity for a patient might be contested? At what point do efforts to ensure a patient's dignity lead to paternalistic assaults on the patient's freedom? Ingrid Mattson, "Dignity and Patient Care: An Islamic
Perspective" Published: March 22, 2002 |
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