A Subtler Hero Emerges
In the spirit of this season of giving thanks, we at The Holding Group are grateful for our ever-growing list of personal and professional heroes. We have heroes locally – from our various community partners to the clients we serve – and across the country and globe. This recent column by Jane Brody in the NY Times, “Aiding the Doctor Who Feels Cancer’s Toll,” on the role of “contemplative care” in the practice of medicine exemplifies the thoughtfulness of one of our heroes, Dr. Diane Meier. This article is about the toll that practicing medicine takes on physicians who feel they are in the ultimate Catch-22: in the very advanced stages of a patient’s illness, they have to either provide treatment they know will not be successful or “abandon” that person (towards whom they likely feel a deeply personal connection). Through this lens – with so much power and technology at their fingertips, coupled with the pressure to perform miracles – they are in an impossible position.
And yet, contemplative care asserts the need to take a different approach, a new perspective. It teaches us all to think and sort through our intentions before we just act; as Dr. Meier put it, “Don’t just do something, stand there.” Until this is practiced to the point of becoming routine, it takes both guts and trust to stop, think and ask: “is this treatment truly serving the human in front of me?” The irony is that without creating this space the voice of the very people physicians are trying to protect gets lost.
There’s no need to fear this age of practicing smarter medicine that is guided by evidence, efficiency, and efficacy; it is the epitome of humane. Physicians can maintain the hope in treatments they provide by setting realistic expectations and including appropriate measures such as palliative care and interdisciplinary team members – read: social workers and spiritual support! – from the outset of diagnosis.
Our heroes, like Dr. Meier, don’t have all the answers. In fact, one characteristic of our heroes is that they ask questions in order to inspire solutions. In this case, the question is: “how can we think differently about the care we provide?” Being a hero is no easy task, and chances are that one’s heart has broken a bit to become a hero. We know that heroes work tirelessly at their visions of doing the Right Thing. But, to be clear, our heroes are not on pedestals – they are humans, here on the soil with us, who are not perfect immortals but rather humble, wildly intelligent, collaborative and ever-curious. Thank you to our heroes, near and far, for asking the questions that you do.
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