tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7476621888383604834.post988621104394538306..comments2024-02-15T03:26:38.897-05:00Comments on Health Care Organizational Ethics: A Controversial Proposal about Complementary MedicineJim Sabinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087828142188534542noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7476621888383604834.post-55204940551730363822011-11-30T05:46:17.517-05:002011-11-30T05:46:17.517-05:00Hello Douglas -
What a wonderful passage from War...Hello Douglas -<br /><br />What a wonderful passage from <em>War and Peace</em>! Tolstoy had a marvellous understanding of what we talk about in more prosaic terms as "placebo effect." His story <em>The Death of Ivan Ilyich</em> is often used in medical teaching to convey the power of touch, care, and presence to the sick person.<br /><br />When I was in medical school an "old timer" (almost certainly younger than I am now) told me how physicians in the era before antibiotics and other basic, and effective, medications, knew that for many people and many conditions "tincture of time" was a powerful remedy. I'm sure that skillful practitioners have always understood the "eternal human need for hope of relief, for sympathy, and that something should be done."<br /><br />Again, <b>thank you</b> for the passage from Tolstoy!<br /><br />Best<br /><br />JimJim Sabinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087828142188534542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7476621888383604834.post-30740243116707413252011-11-28T16:04:06.509-05:002011-11-28T16:04:06.509-05:00I think Tolstoy understood at least one aspect of ...I think Tolstoy understood at least one aspect of CAM’s appeal. <br /><br />“Their usefulness did not depend on making the patient swallow substances for the most part harmful. . . but they were useful, necessary, and indispensable because they satisfied the moral cravings of the patient and those who loved her and that is why there are, and always will be, pseudo-healers, wise women, homeopaths, and allopaths. They satisfied that eternal human need for hope of relief, for sympathy, and that something should be done, which is felt by those who are suffering.”<br />War and Peace Chp. 9 about Natasha’s doctors when she was very ill.Douglas Olsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782839923012641263noreply@blogger.com