Takeaway
A patient’s anger showed me I needed to recognize his suffering and not simply offer a diagnosis. True care means moving beyond technical skill to connect with the whole person.
Connecting with Patients | August 6, 2025 | 1 min read
By Thomas Hutchinson, MB, McGill University
My memoir “The Craft of Medicine,” relates the following experience on call one evening with a fellow intern. Author’s note: the memoir is written in the third person.
“They came to a patient with known metastatic lung cancer who was complaining of new pain in his chest. They listened and were delighted to pick up a clear pericardial rub (a rare but typical physical sign that [we] had heard about but never to that point heard). They both listened and laughed at how clear and characteristic it was. One for the books. The patient was angry. He said, ‘Your turn will come.’”
It was obvious to me then that I’d failed to empathize with this patient. He was reacting with justifiable anger and pointing out the source of the failure—I wasn’t in touch with my own mortality and vulnerability. However, it was quite a different thing to understand what was happening than to internalize what this patient was trying to teach—practicing whole person care.
Whole person care is the synergizing combination of technical competence in diagnosis and treatment of disease and the creation of a healing relationship with the patient. Healing is a move toward integrity and wholeness in response to injury or disease that occurs within the patient but can also be facilitated by a healthcare practitioner.
I’ve found the following five lessons important in my own development as a whole person care practitioner:
1. Pursue technical competence and excellence.
2. Get in touch with and acknowledge your own vulnerabilities—they’re your most important resource in creating a healing relationship with a patient.
3. Stay in touch with your longings.
4. Stay present and humble in your interactions with patients who know more about themselves and what they need than you do.
5. Be prepared to radically change your mode of practice to remain fully engaged as you change and grow.
This memoir follows the process of change, growth and radical change in a long career as a practitioner of whole person care.
This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.