“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – St. Teresa of Calcutta
During winter break, Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture held its annual conference, which explored interdisciplinary issues of importance to our world and to the mission of the University. Invoking the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, the theme of this year’s conference was “We Belong to Each Other.” Each session focused on our shared obligations to the common good in a variety of fields, from education and literature to economics and healthcare. I attended a session entitled “‘Visit the Sick’: What We Owe in Health Care.” The panelists’ reflections on the vocation of medicine were particularly salient for students like us who hope to someday become compassion-focused physicians. I’d like to share with you some of the insights that moved me as I listened to the discussion.
Panelist Dr. Kristen Collier, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, said the following during her opening remarks: “I ask [people discerning the vocation of medicine] one question: ‘Are you a lover of humanity?’ Not of receptors, not of diseases, not of symptoms, but of people: people, in all their brokenness and messiness, and with the ugliness that is sin, disease, and death?” I have always been struck by the word compassion, as its Latin root translates to “suffering with.” All physicians must confront the pain and suffering that are inextricably linked to our shared human experience. We believe that the physician’s response must be relationship, compassion, and accompaniment of the patients – the people – to whom we dedicate our lives in service.
Every physician inevitably encounters the sobering reality of death at some point during his or her training or practice. On this topic, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty ’99, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Medical Ethics at UC Irvine, uttered one of the most moving statements of the panel. I’ve been sharing his words with anyone who will listen because I was so struck by their profundity: “If we see death as the last enemy of medicine to be conquered, we’re going to lose every time.” We have a 0% long-term success rate if the only goal of medicine is to extend bodily longevity. Physicians must accept that the capabilities of medicine in the physical realm are finite. Dr. Kheriaty’s sentiment reflects the belief of our Compassionate Care in Medicine Club that there is something more to medicine than preservation of physical health. It challenges our world’s traditional understanding of successful medicine: do we only fulfill our duties if we can cure and heal perfectly? Or does our vocation demand an attention to both the temporal body and the eternal soul? As shared by Dr. Mark Sandock, is our primary goal to cure, or to care?
This panel discussion was a surprisingly emotional experience for me; I was incredibly moved by the physicians’ reflections on the vocation of medicine. One of the panelists briefly discussed a photograph that I later found, and which I share with you here (below) because it speaks more eloquently than words ever could. In this photo, Dr. Joseph Varon embraces an elderly man with COVID-19 on his 252nd consecutive day of treating coronavirus patients. I cried when I saw this photo, viscerally moved by its depth and beauty. I couldn’t help but think, “This is medicine!”
I boldly claim that unless your work as a physician aims to embrace, literally or metaphorically, each person who crosses your path, you are not practicing true medicine. A physician’s accompaniment of and radical compassion for patients should underlie every quest for healing; this philosophy, and not a mere interest in physiology or disease, must drive us. The latter will not sustain us through the arduous journey ahead. I’d encourage you to watch this recording of the panel discussion if you seek sustenance and inspiration. This panel reminded me that medicine is a ministry of accompaniment, as our unique formation in compassionate care empowers us to proclaim.