Name: A doctor's touch
Uploaded: 2011-09-26T13:40:05Z
Duration: 18 min 15 s
Description: Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam.

Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam.

A doctor's touch

The shift toward high-tech diagnostics has distanced doctors from their patients, making medical care feel impersonal and incomplete. One woman with advanced breast cancer had been seen at multiple hospitals, but her disease was only discovered through scans—not by physical exam. The simple act of examining patients not only leads to earlier diagnoses but also affirms a powerful, human ritual at the very core of healing. When doctors skip the bedside connection, both patient outcomes and the doctor-patient relationship suffer.