The Journal of Medical Humanities, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1993

Editorial

Jozsef Kovacs challenges physicians to examine closely the most pow- erful medicine in their bag. The physician's personality has therapeutic power. Just as physicians closely monitor the ingredients in the pharma- cologic agents they prescribe, Kovacs feels physicians are morally obligated to attend to the nature of their dispositions.

He suggests that physicians who balance their lives with an interest in art are more likely to sharpen their senses. Not only is this a benefit to the physician but a necessity for the patient.

How can medical educators interest students in applying as much de- termination to what kind of a people they become as to the scientific knowledge they acquire? Do we need to balance the keen fascination with science and technology with the sensitivity, awareness, and perception that the arts provide?

What is the role of medical education in the development of a stu- dent's personality? If the students are required to satisfactorily pass board examinations in the basic sciences, is a grounding in the humanities more likely to conceive a more efficacious healer?

These are the healers who grapple with the ethical issues raised by Timothy Murphy on HIV testing, S. R. Benatar on times of war, and Susan Purviance on rationing.

Those of us who work in the medical humanities realize that a little Chekhov and Renoir go nicely with anatomy and physiology.

CR.P.

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© 1993 Human Sciences Press, Inc.