Un medico tra affetti personali e pratica clinica

Abstract

This paper focuses on the doctor-patient relationship through the narrative medicine approach. The Medical Humanities perspective makes it possible to describe the limits of the traditional biomedical model in treating the patient as a person, and offers a wider range of instruments for recognizing and responding to the needs of those who are ill. However, the analysis presented here focuses not so much on the patient as on the attending physician. The protagonist is “the Professor”, a prominent clinician and representative of the traditional biomedical model. His biographical and professional profile reveals the strengths and weaknesses of a style of medical practice which, even with its successes in defeating diseases, is characterized by the difficulty in engaging in a real dialogue with the patient.