EMPATHY

EMPATHY

Medical Anecdotal Report

Index title: EESTONILO’s MAR (01-06)

MAR Title: Empathy

Date of Medical observation: May 2003

How do we delient empathy from sympathy?....sympathy in simple term is feeling sorry for others pain, empathy on the other hand is actually feeling others pain as well. Why did I differentiate these terms? Simply because this 2 terms separate us as a human being among other creations…Simply because we are just like any human being.

As a fresh doctor I was once tested with a patient who I should admit, I could have jeopardize if not time was on my side that night..I was having a jam packed ER duty then, when a 15 year old came in complaining of chest pain,in my mind i was thinkng more of a psychosomatic chestpain, so my initial act was to give her oxygen, At the back of my mind thinking she would be okay in a few minutes. Then I attended to my other patients… a few minutes after, the young man’s father caught my attention and to my surprise my patient was already in distress, I took his ECG and I was dumbfounded to see spiking ST segments and widening of his QRS…

So, I immediately hooked her with D5W,an managed her as a case of myocardial infarction, after which I referred her to my consultant, and told me that she might be suffering from myocarditis.I then took a better history of my patient , a day prior to the consult he had a flu like symptoms , and DOB was intermittently experienced..to sum it up my patient is in CHF…

Guilt overwhelmed me then, if only I took time to feel his pain and emphatized, and took him seriously, I could have prevented further assault to his condition…of course Im no God, but it is a different story If I have asserted all possible efforts.

Insights:(Physical,Psychosocial,Ethical)
(Discovery,Reinforcement)

I learned my lesson the hard way, that is I should consider every symptoms of my patient seriously…and take them as if my own, in that way I may not take any subjective complaint for granted…Being a doctor is indeed a tricky and taught calling, we often are caught between being objective and being humane at the same time. Maybe the best way to solve this dilemma is simply combining the 2 elements together, because being good theoretically and clinically is not equivalent to being a good doctor, a vital factor of feeling and embracing each signs and symptoms erasing any doubt that it is real to our patients is how to deal with it as a whole. It may be time consuming, but I don’t think we have so much to loose instead more to gain if we take time , emphatize… ..then analyze.

Let me end by quoting a challenging phrase by Edward E. Hale from the book Chicken Soup for the Soul:

“ I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

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