|
Jim
writes:
I believe you have a heart. I suggested nothing to the
contrary. I think a physician who believes his competence is confined to
the clinical observation that brain and heart function has irreversibly
ceased is not aware of all of his competencies, and doesn't reflect the great
tradition in medicine.
We surely agree on this. A doctor who simply says, "You're son has
died. Face up to it" is a lout. And it is also fair to say that
medical education (and thus the notion of the "practice of medicine" should
include some attention to empathy and the _expression_ of basic human
concern. (One might say much the same thing about legal training,
incidentally.) But I was responding to a specific example about what
might be called religious solace. Can we compromise on something like
this: If a parent says, "I'm sure that Tom is in heaven right now," my
kind of doctor should say, "I certainly hope so." (I have no reason not
to hope that the statement is true; I simply have no reason to think
it is.)
sandy |
_______________________________________________
To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see
http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.
Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can
read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the
messages to others.
