On ward rounds at the old Salt Lake County Hospital, Dr. Maxwell Wintrobe asked the residents and interns, “Who invented the stethoscope?” It was 1958 at the hospital on 2100 South and State Street. A young green intern spouted “René Laennec.” Dr. Wintrobe said, “That’s right. What’s your name?” And my reputation at the medical school was wonderfully enhanced. Small things mean a lot, like a little remembered history.
It’s not only history as far as medical practice is concerned. It’s connecting with people in their comfort zone, generally. That’s why a course in ethics, philosophy, literature and other cultures than your own make a difference in caring for the sick. That is why I moonlighted from my radiology practice in the 1970s to earn a philosophy degree and why I facilitated, after retirement, social medicine classes at the University of Utah Medical School. Artificial intelligence cannot generate human judgment or love or empathy. That comes from human understanding and critical thinking. You get that from the study of the humanities.
The social medicine class I facilitated with former university president Chase Peterson and the Department of Family Practice created, with the help of community organizations, discussions in spousal abuse, substance abuse, grief management, mental illness, suicide and other life-altering maladies. I remember struggles, being a radiologist, talking to students about these life-altering issues. That’s part of medical practice and related fields. Myself and many of my students had confronted many critical life issues. This was the school’s attempt to broaden and edify the curriculum beyond the hard medical sciences.
Sadly our society, as expressed recently in the Utah Legislature, has expressed hesitancy in financing college education, especially humanistic education, in favor of skill sets focused on production and financial gain. All skill sets that deal with servicing and caring for living things, including human beings, need to include methods to enrich and enhance life itself.
It’s a no-brainer to support a new major in medical humanities.
Richard H. Keller, Salt Lake City
