Physician and patient

by Worthington Hooker

Believe me, with esteem,

Your very faithful friend,

T. H. B.

Tilford, Jan. 28th, 1836.

LETTER III.

ON THE MOST ELIGIBLE METHODS TO BE PURSUED.

My Dear Friend,

In accordance with your request, I now proceed to offer a few suggestions derived from personal observation, on the methods which appear to me best calculated to secure the important object of our present correspondence. You will remember, that, even at a distance, I doubted my ability for properly executing this part of the undertaking; and I candidly own that my consciousness of inadequacy has not diminished on a nearer view of the attending difficulties. Should, however, the plain remarks you are about to receive, possess little value in themselves, they may, I am willing to hope, prove indirectly useful, by engaging your own attention more closely and continuously to the subject.

You are too well aware, how deeply the feeling of medical responsibility has pressed upon myself, to suppose for a single moment, that I would inconsiderately superadd to a similar burthen upon you any unnecessary weight of obligation as connected with the spiritual condition of your patients. I cannot, indeed, relinquish the opinion I have deliberately formed, and which has been before avowed, namely, that the peculiar facilities afforded to the medical practitioner entail upon him a proportionate responsibility; yet am I very solicitous not to endanger the peace of a conscientious mind, by incautious or exaggerated statements, or by urging the adoption of any doubtful or impracticable measures. On a subject of such manifest delicacy as well as difficulty, it is highly important that our views should be well defined, and our opinions of the duties and obligations involved, most carefully guarded and qualified, otherwise we may not only inflict a needless wound on a pious mind, but may actually defeat the very object we desire to promote, by the disheartening influence of plans of operation unfeasible in themselves, or inconsistent with our proper, indispensable, and untransferable duties. Allow me, therefore, to request your attention to two preliminary observations.

First,—I would remark that the desire of promoting the patient’s religious welfare should never be allowed to interfere with the thorough performance of medical duties. These cannot be superseded by any other claims. Under this decided impression I would suggest, as a general rule, the propriety of giving your sole, undivided attention to the relief of the patient’s malady, as well as to every circumstance and arrangement which his bodily condition may demand, before you permit yourself to advert to his spiritual exigences. You will kindly observe that I recommend this as a general rule, which may possibly admit of some exceptions. For example, I can conceive that some highly-gifted individuals may have the power of interspersing, in an unobjectionable manner, a few religious hints among their medical enquiries and directions, and without materially distracting their attention, or endangering the temporal well-being of their charge. Yet, even with such facilities, there would sometimes, I apprehend, be a risk of dispersing those energies of mind which the physician ought assuredly, in the first place, to concentrate on his patient, in the earnest, persevering endeavor to remove his disease and preserve his life. Consequently the talent referred to should be used with much judgment and caution. But I foresee that your habits of discrimination will lead you to doubt whether the example I have supposed really constitutes an exception to the rule. It certainly is not foreign to the spirit of the rule, which I think may be thus expressed:—that no attempt should be made by the physician to promote the religious welfare of the sick, which is incompatible with the full, efficient, satisfactory discharge of his medical duties and obligations.