There is a growing recognition in medical education and practice that the spiritual component of human existence must be recognized and addressed. The American College of Physicians has concluded that physicians are obligated to attend to all dimensions of suffering: the physical, psychosocial, spiritual, and existential.

Similarly, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JAHCO), which accredits hospitals, recognizes that spiritual concerns are often important for patients and that hospitals …

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In his book The Art of Loving, Eric Fromm wrote that “the deepest need of man is to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness.” In the Bible, after forming Adam from the dust of the ground and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, God declares that something is missing: “It is not good for the man to be alone.”

A number of scientific studies verify that a …

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In an article entitled Culture, Illness, and Care, medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman writes about the important distinction between illness and disease.  He defines diseases as “abnormalities in the structure and function of body organs and systems.”  In other words, disease is what is actually physically wrong with the body.  In contrast, illness is what patients experience when they are sick.  This is profoundly influenced by multiple factors such as a person’s culture, social situation, and the …

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Ever since the days of William Osler, annual physical examinations with one’s doctor have been an accepted and expected part of health care.  But recently the practice has come under some criticism.  Given the dearth of studies showing that physicals lower the risk of death and hospitalization, some experts and organizations state that the annual physical should be abandoned.

I appreciate the effort here to question tradition and to consider if …

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I recently attended a meeting in which a public intellectual spoke with boundless enthusiasm about the wonderful future medical technology will inevitably deliver to human beings.

His lecture went something like this: “Since the dawn of civilization, we humans have sought to transcend the limits of our condition.   While we’ve long worked at this enterprise of empowerment, the arrival of the scientific method has radically accelerated the pace of change. With …

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