Heidegger’s phenomenology has been used in various ways to understand and approach healthcare…. Rather than looking specifically at how phenomenology and hermeneutics can be used to approach a specific situation, my aim to is to look specifically at how Heidegger’s phenomenology and hermeneutics can provide guidance as to how to approach medical professional communication…. If we apply these philosophical concepts to the medical professional-patient relationship, we can say that the medical professional should care for the patient (via Fürsorge [solicitude]) through showing consideration the patient’s wishes (via Rücksicht [thoughtfulness]) and being tolerant of differing perspectives and values….
Since, however, the backgrounds of meanings…of the two in dialogue do not necessarily coincide, persons must be open to others if true communication is to occur. Heidegger…calls this openness Gelassenheit, which is often translated as “letting be”: “As a physician one must…let the other human being be.” Letting be is not a passive indifference, but rather consists in avoiding manipulation or dominance and allowing for genuine communication to unfold….
Heidegger states, “Being-in and its state-of-mind are made known in discourse and indicated in language by intonation, modulation, the tempo of talk, ‘the way of speaking'”…. All these subtle variations matter because they portray the level of involvement of the person and how one is affected by the communication. Moreover, bodily gestures also communicate such interests….
Medical professionals should be cognizant of barriers that can affect such communication, including gender, age, and cultural differences; physical or psychological pain; differences in medical literacy; and distraction. Heidegger’s phenomenology provides a philosophical lens to approach communication that highlights the contextual nature of medical professional-patient interactions.
h/t Philippa Göranson and to Casey Rentmeester for access to his article.
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