Compassion is the Key to Care

We will always have people who are hurt, ill or incapable of functioning as they normally would all over the world. No matter how much time may pass, we will always need people to take care of the sick and the ill and those people are our health care workers who risk so much to attempt to care for the world. Care is defined as “to be concerned or solicitous; have thought or regard” which indicates not only just aiding someone but to have emotions of being concerned. However, despite this there is a recurring issue in medical ethics regarding physicians not providing proper care to their patients and instead providing apathetic and calculated care, often referred to as “robotic”. Jean Keller and Eva Feder Kittay agree with this issue and this is supported through their medical ethics text, Feminist Ethics of Care, as they discuss a plethora of ethical issues in the medical field with the most critical issue being caregiver roles. The role of a caregiver is to provide compassionate care to their patients, and according to Keller and Kitay “Care done without the right affect, such as love and empathy, is often not experienced as care at all. Similarly, when care is not offered through an intuitive and immediate response but mediated by reasoning, care can be experienced as insincere and calculated.”(Keller and Kitay). Keller and Kitay speak about emphasizing care with health support, which is crucial for the American HealthCare System. This is because it leads to more satisfied and trustful patients rather than continuing to create the stigma of doctor’s being cold and uncaring people. Without focusing on compassionate care you can’t provide true care that Keller and Kitay reference in their text as care that is done without compassion is not care at all.

A study conducted by Fallon Chipidza, Rachel  Wallwork, and Theodore Stern fortifies the claim made by Keller and Kitay. The research was meant to prove that compassionate care from a doctor can lead to patients to be more satisfied or happier with their experience. They used two case studies to prove this the first one being Mr. A who was a drug addict and suffered from Hepatitis C. In order to help him, a medical team consulted him on his drug abuse and enrolled him in a clinic for his addiction and according to him, “prior to this assessment he had never had a “decent” conversation about addiction treatment.”(Chipidza, Wallwork, and Stern). The team had compassionately talked to him about his severe problems while not judging or making him uncomfortable which would lead to a less satisfying experience. For the first time, Mr. A faced compassion regarding his problems and consequently for the first time he was able to have a satisfying experience with his issues and likely feels more confident in combating his illness; this is the role of a caregiver and the goal that all caregivers should achieve. The other case was with a patient referred to as Ms. B who is an addict to alcohol and was diagnosed with gastric carcinoma and needs chemotherapy for treatment. However, the doctor said that the surgery would remove a large part of her stomach and drilled into her brain how serious the procedure was, even noting that it was likely to kill her,  but it was done in a robotic apathetic manner. This led to, “Ms B began to shake her head from side to side and cry.”(Chipidza, Wallwork, and Stern) which shows how not only dissatisfied but also how saddening a lack of compassionate care can make someone. It’s evident that with compassion there will be an increase in satisfaction just by simply comparing these two case studies of Mr. A and Ms. B while looking at the vivid difference in their reactions to their diagnosis.

The study was also able to prove that patient trust increases as the compassionate care increases. Patient trust is crucial as there is sometimes personal important information that a patient should inform their caretaker of but withhold it because of distrust. Important information should always be shared with your physician and compassion is the only way to reach that level. According to one of the researchers, “noted that the quality of communication during history-taking and management also affects outcomes (eg, frequency of visits, emotional health, and symptom resolution) and that such communication extended beyond creation of the “plan.” The manner in which a physician communicates with a patient (even while gathering information) influences how often, and if at all, a patient will return to that same physician.”(Chipidza, Wallwork, Stern). In short, being compassionate and talking to your patient beyond a treatment plan leads to more trust which can also lead to a physician being able to do their job more effectively. Thus displaying the importance of compassion within the medical field as it shows the increase in patient trust. Secondly, in reference to Ms. B situation, the researchers gave methods of compassionate care that would have helped draw a closer bond and trust between the surgeon and Ms. B. It was stated, “the doctor in the case of Ms B could have made an effort to demonstrate regard for the patient and to display a desire to know the patient. The surgeon could have started off by asking Ms B open-ended questions about her understanding of her disease, as well as of her fears and expectations regarding her health. This questioning would have allowed the surgeon to create a patient-centered interaction by recognizing and addressing Ms B’s thoughts, concerns, and values.”(Chipidza, Wallwork, and Stern). As shown using more compassion and attempting to empathize with the patient, there could have been a more satisfying and trustful reaction rather than the one that the surgeon had received. Proving that compassionate care is essential for patient trust. 

The case study demonstrates the importance of compassionate care in the medical field, and solidifies the argument made for compassionate care. By using anecdotal experiences and having licensed medical professionals review these cases and discuss what went wrong allows for a credible piece of evidence. With a lack of patient anecdotes, it would prove to be rather difficult to justify the need for change in the medical field thus making the study making the lens that Keller and Kitay establish clear and strong.

Keller and Kitay believe that care done without compassion is not the role that a caregiver must fulfill but instead care with compassion as it leads to windows of deeper patient connections. The research done by Fallon Chipidza, Rachel  Wallwork, and Theodore Stern further proves this point as they provide legitimate cases detailing why compassionate care would be necessary in the medical field. Without compassionate care, there will be little patient trust as well as not much patient satisfaction so physicians need to focus on this ethical issue. Patients should seek out their physicians more often and should always be able to say “I can trust my doctor with this information” and the healthcare system must strive to be more ethical. 

Work cited 

•  Chipidza, Fallon E., et al. “Impact of the doctor-patient relationship.” The Primary Care Companion For CNS Disorders, 2015, https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.15f01840. 
• Keller, Jean, and Eva Feder Kittay. “Feminist ethics of care.” The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy, 2017, pp. 540–555, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315758152-44. 
• Kariger , Brian. “Care Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.Com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/care. Accessed 1 Nov. 2023.