For more than a century, the American medical profession
insisted that doctors be rigorously trained in medical science and
dedicated to professional ethics. Patients revered their doctors as
representatives of a sacred vocation. Do we still trust doctors
with the same conviction? In "Trusting Doctors," Jonathan Imber
attributes the development of patients' faith in doctors to the
inspiration and influence of Protestant and Catholic clergymen
during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He explains
that as the influence of clergymen waned, and as reliance on
medical technology increased, patients' trust in doctors steadily
declined.
"Trusting Doctors" discusses the emphasis that Protestant
clergymen placed on the physician's vocation; the focus that
Catholic moralists put on specific dilemmas faced in daily medical
practice; and the loss of unchallenged authority experienced by
doctors after World War II, when practitioners became valued for
their technical competence rather than their personal integrity.
Imber shows how the clergy gradually lost their impact in defining
the physician's moral character, and how vocal critics of medicine
contributed to a decline in patient confidence. The author argues
that as modern medicine becomes defined by specialization, rapid
medical advance, profit-driven industry, and ever more anxious
patients, the future for a renewed trust in doctors will be
confronted by even greater challenges.
"Trusting Doctors" provides valuable insights into the religious
underpinnings of the doctor-patient relationship and raises
critical questions about the ultimate place of the medical
profession in American life and culture.
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