Page 91 - 2020年醫學倫理暨人文醫學圖書心得精選集

human body, we all too often neglected to address healing the
human spirit. We spend ample time to take care of the disease
but much less endeavor to communicate. Patients and their
family are mostly non-medical professions to whom medical
behaviors that we take granted are exceedingly foreign. As
healers, we must recognize that apology is good medicine with
amazing restorative power. Given that doctor-patient
relationship has changed dramatically in recent decades. The
bipartite interaction is now intimate yet intense. We start to
realize saying “sorry” as a surprisingly powerful way to soothe
patients and even head off malpractice lawsuits. As physicians,
we tend to think of healing in purely corporeal terms—broken
bones knitting together, sutures closing a gaping wound,
antibiotics staving off an invasion of rogue microbes. But
apology is also about healing. Specifically, it’s about healing
relationships that have been damaged by any number of means.
Authentic apology is entirely about healing the relationship and
maintaining trust. It is driven by honor and ethics, not by
financial self-protection.

Apology is a fundamental part of the standard repertoire
of social communication. For those who are willing to learn
how to build more authentic relationships with patients and
even what exact words you could say in difficult situation, Dr.
Michael Woods has written a practical and motivational book

2020 年.醫學倫理.人文醫學.心得 78