Reading two thoughtful articles attached re: physician cognitive health, well-being, and motivation brought to my mind three thoughts:
- Wittgenstein wrote that all of ethics was outside the realm of language. For him, the whole point of ethics would be lost if it were but straightforward cognition of something objective that resides in the world, like a tree or gravity or a chair. This is a deceptively transcendent and marvelous insight that is lost on many physicians and bioethicists who write about healthcare morality, just my opinion. Fortunately, other influential writers share Wittgenstein’s viewpoint, and deserve study.
- Chapter 46 from the Tao Te Ching:
When the world has the Way
horses till the fields.
When the world shuns the Way
war-horses are bred in the countryside.
No crime is greater than approving greed,
no calamity greater than discontent,
no curse exceeds possessiveness.
The satisfaction of contentment is always enough.
- Daniel Callahan believes the plague of modern healthcare is “healthism”, the covert scourge of providers and populace alike. I think his insights should have been added to the attached NEJM essay as necessary dimension,……so, will briefly summarize in the next AoW.
Joe Kaempf, MD
Oregon Representative
Portland, OR
Volume 14, Number 1