“Physician, heal thyself.”

For many years, patients have increasingly complained that physicians “bedside manner” toward their infirm patients has been less than compassionate.

Such charges have led to decreased patient satisfaction, among other undesirable results.

So, what we really wanna’ know is…

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Can Doctors Learn Empathy?

June 21, 2012, 2:52 pm, By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D.

My colleague loved performing surgery as much as anyone I had ever met. Every morning he bounded into the hospital, full of energy and cheerful anticipation of the day’s surgical schedule, his prominent mouth stretched into a broad grin.

“Too bad his foot is always in it,” another doctor whispered one day as our colleague passed by.

The sad truth was that despite his gusto, patients often complained about our colleague. He was brusque when the moment required sensitivity, flip when the conversation was grave, and heavy-handed when the situation called for a light touch. Just a few days earlier, we were shocked to learn he’d bluntly told an elderly war hero in the hospital for his diabetes, “I need to cut off your leg.”

“He sure doesn’t lack