On the other hand, doctors don’t need to “feel your pain.” It’s not helpful, possible, desirable, or honest to hope that they can or should. Over-identification with patients is not necessary, nor is it empathic. That said, physicians run from the opportunities to provide needed acknowledgment as if the emotions were contagious.

A a show of appropriate emotional resonance is a minimum requirement, and sometimes all that is needed. Empathy isn’t gone—it’s just hiding. Empathy is always present. We are all “empaths” from birth. It’s our job to learn why you don’t see it when you are with your doctors. Why do you have a heartless cardiologist? The short answer is: he does have a heart—he just checked it at the hospital door.

DrKussin

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