Years later, Osler protegé Harvey Cushing discovered first-hand the challenges of becoming a patient when he was admitted to hospital for the treatment of severe vascular disease. “This grace of humility,” Osler wrote, “is a precious gift.” One morning, Osler was discovered by a colleague, “struggling in the effort to pass a stomach tube upon himself, resulting in the ordinary gagging and retching which such a procedure produces in one unaccustomed to it.” 1 When asked what he was doing, he replied: “Well, we often pass these on people, and I thought we ought to find out what it feels like ourselves.” 1 Wisdom led Osler to appreciate those things that characterize human vulnerability and patienthood humility helped him understand that there are aspects of human suffering that are not easily penetrable. Sir William Osler understood that while some things can be known, others must be inferred or experienced. Humility differentiates what is clinically indicated from what treatment choices patients deem appropriate it also separates knowing what should happen within specified clinical circumstances from what does happen. For physicians, humility distinguishes between knowing what illness the patient has and what it means, and understanding how it feels to have it. In his book The Silent World of Doctor and Patient, Jay Katz states: “Socialization of physicians reinforces the universal human tendency to turn away from uncertainty,” letting physicians assume a role as “the bearers of certainty.”īut to be humble means to appreciate the limits of your abilities, understanding and importance.
After all, training for certainty in the practice of medicine - the slow but steady relinquishment of humility - begins in medical school.Īlong the way, ignorance is replaced by knowledge and doubt with assurance.
Barrie wrote, “Life is a long lesson in humility.” At first glance, the topics of medicine and humility would seem an unlikely pairing.
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