Actually, we can only partly blame healthcare systems. A recent article in the March 2008 issue of Academic Medicine, “Is There Hardening of the Heart During Medical School?” showed that empathy toward patients among medical students declined steadily during the four years of their training, beginning with the first year . So we cannot blame healthcare systems entirely. New doctors , it seems, already enter practice with a declining interest in the psychological, and social predicaments in which we as patients find ourselves. Emotional support is essential to good care so we need to beware when we find this missing. As good healthcare consumers we may need to look for doctors who possess the empathy we as patients need.

Finally, we have to deal with the ethics, or values, of some providers, and perhaps medicine as a whole. Not so good according to a recent study reported in December 2007 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Among 1600 physicians surveyed almost all agreed they should report medical errors, report impaired colleagues, and the like. Yet only about half actually did so . Although we’d like to trust our healthcare providers completely, there is evidence to suggest we need to be cautious.

Finally, there is the very serious issue of medical errors. The problem is widely known among healthcare providers, hospitals, and healthcare organizations. Not so well know among us consumers, and what is known is not widely discussed or published. The fundamental fact is that to obtain the highest level of healthcare we need to strive for the lowest level of medical errors. As consumers, we need to know what errors to look for and how to avoid them.

There is hope if people as patients become owners of their health and empowered to participate in their care.

Louis Siegel, M.D.
http://www.likeadoctorinthefamily.com