RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 When Words Fail: Love’s Rightful Place in Medicine
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 277
OP 278
DO 10.1370/afm.2814
VO 20
IS 3
A1 So, Marvin
YR 2022
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/20/3/277.abstract
AB Early in my medical training, I shared an intimate connection with a patient that took me by surprise. How was it that I could come to feel so strongly about someone I had only just met? The experience prompted me to contemplate the transcendent, curious relationship entwining patients and clinicians, and reflect on how such a relationship squared with my own conceptions of love and caregiving. Though it is sometimes argued that transferring our emotions onto patients beyond direct clinical concerns can bias or tarnish the medicine we provide, I contend these emotions can be cherished and prudently explored rather than swept away.