Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-13-2009
Abstract
The dominant unspoken philosophical basis of medical care in the United States is a form of Cartesian reductionism that views the body as a machine and medical professionals as technicians whose job is to repair that machine. The purpose of this paper is to advocate for an alternative philosophy of medicine based on the concept of healing relationships between clinicians and patients. This is accomplished first by exploring the ethical and philosophical work of Pellegrino and Thomasma and then by connecting Martin Buber's philosophical work on the nature of relationships to an empirically derived model of the medical healing relationship. The Healing Relationship Model was developed by the authors through qualitative analysis of interviews of physicians and patients. Clinician-patient healing relationships are a special form of what Buber calls I-Thou relationships, characterized by dialog and mutuality, but a mutuality limited by the inherent asymmetry of the clinician-patient relationship. The Healing Relationship Model identifies three processes necessary for such relationships to develop and be sustained: Valuing, Appreciating Power and Abiding. We explore in detail how these processes, as well as other components of the model resonate with Buber's concepts of I-Thou and I-It relationships. The resulting combined conceptual model illuminates the wholeness underlying the dual roles of clinicians as healers and providers of technical biomedicine. On the basis of our analysis, we argue that health care should be focused on healing, with I-Thou relationships at its core. © 2009 Scott et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Keywords
basic word, healing relationship, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, inherent assymetry, dialogical relation
Language
English
Publication Title
Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine
Rights
© 2009 Scott et al. This is an Open Access work distributed under the terms of the CC BY 2.0 (Attribution 2.0 Generic) license which allows users to freely share, copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon material in any medium or format, even commercially, provided they give appropriate credit to the creator, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made
Recommended Citation
Scott, J.G., Scott, R.G., Miller, W.L. et al. Healing relationships and the existential philosophy of Martin Buber. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 4, 11 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-4-11
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version