Hygeia Public Health 2013, 48(1): 17-20pl

Modern medicine in the service of man - philosophical reflections about the nature of medicine

Stefan Szary ^1,2/

1/ Wyższa Szkoła Edukacji i Terapii w Poznaniu
2/ Akademia Walki z Rakiem w Poznaniu

Summary
Medical care centers on a suffering human being. Over the centuries, medicine focused on different aspects. Modern medicine hopes for the ever-increasing possibilities of precise technical solutions related to the development of information and computer technology. One of the greatest dangers of medicine is its objectification. On the one hand, the increasing bureaucratization and on the other, spread of technology can create danger of losing the humanistic character of medicine. The way of perceiving Man not as a mystery, but only as a scientific problem can lead to inadequate therapeutic relations. A patient coded schematically as another case of healthcare, can be seen not as a homo patiens, but as a service customer or one of the many items on the career path. Therefore an important issue in the context of modern medicine is the subjectivity in relation to the patient, and the subjectivity of the medical care team.
Treatment and care of the sick are teamwork, and therefore the cooperation in the therapeutic team plays a critical role. Another important risk associated with ever narrowing medical specialties is the perspective limited to one particular specialty, and even the exclusion of other areas - both in diagnosis and treatment. As a result, less and less attention is paid to the factors that cause destruction, and even to the underlying root causes of diseases. Thus, on the one hand humility, on the other, openness and cooperation, are important factors of the proper development of medicine. The awareness of the essence of medicine, serving a suffering human being, the attitude of openness, proper philosophy of life, professionalism and ethics - are the basic ingredients without which medicine is in danger of losing itself, and thus leaving suffering people alone.

Key words:  the essence of medicine, medical art, a suffering human being, subjectivity in medicine, cooperation in the therapeutic team