Bioethics in Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Number 1

Bioethics in Faith and Practice ⦁ 2019 ⦁ Volume 4 ⦁ Number 1 7 patients. So there are two big reasons this all works out well: our patients benefit from our hard work, but they can also be encouraged, knowing that they help us to learn as well. The more intently we focus on giving the best care we currently can, the firmer our foundation will become for our later career. As medical students, we all fear that we might do more harm than good. My initial encounter with a patient with far-advanced breast cancer is a good example of the doubts I experienced at that early stage of training. Yet I’ll never forget my emotions as I completed that early, hesitating breast exam, as the patient thanked me for taking the time to examine her. Should we continue our journey through the medical education system with the mantra “the ends justify the means,” while feeling vaguely guilty about the process the whole time? It does not need to be this way. We should approach medicine with beneficence firmly in mind, recognizing that we are joining a noble, demanding, and heroic profession. Only then can we minimize the risks to our patients, while providing better care than would be possible without us. Endnotes: 1 Cameron N. The New Medicine: Life and Death after Hippocrates. Chicago: Bioethics Press; 2001. 2 Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of biomedical ethics. 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2013. 3 Smith L. A brief history of medicine's Hippocratic Oath, or how times have changed. Otolaryngology-- Head And Neck Surgery: Official Journal Of American Academy Of Otolaryngology-Head And Neck Surgery. 2008;139(1):1-4. 4 Feinberg JS, Feinberg PD. Ethics for a brave new world. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway; 2010.