Healing Through Empathy

Physicians have been known as healers long before they could provide cures for common ailments, but the art of healing is rarely found in the current era of managed care and five-minute office visits. Patients cry out for a physician who "cares," someone who will take the time to listen to their complaints. In "Healing Through Empathy," Dr. Francis Adams illustrates the vital importance of the doctor-patient relationship through seven of his patients' histories. In these life stories Dr. Adams describes the role of empathy in this vital relationship and illustrates how a physician's emotional response to his patient's illness may educate him rather than blur his thinking. "Healing Through Empathy" allows the reader to see into the mind of one physician as he seeks the best outcome for his patients' problems. Dr. Adams offers suggestions for choosing a physician, and challenges physicians and managed care institutions to restore the balance between technology and the art of medicine.