Humanity in healthcare: the heart and soul of medicine

OVERALL RATING Fair

STRENGTHS Provides an overview of the humanities and could stimulate conversation, enthusiasm, and ideas; some chapters well developed

WEAKNESSES Superficially written, verbose, stilted; biased

AUDIENCE Health professionals

Peter Barritt’s intent is to show how disciplines outside medical science can enrich the daily experience of those within it. His aim is to provide an overview of the humanities: “to stimulate conversation, enthusiasm and ideas.” As such, the book succeeds. Peter’s amalgamation of inspirational quotes, poetry, and scientific writing—a “thinker salad”—is bridged together with his own writing, organized into 15 chapters and 3 parts: Health and humanities, Suffering, and Healing. His intended audience is health professionals.

Peter quotes numerous sources, with a detailed bibliography at the end of each chapter to promote further reading. Some chapters are well developed; for example, chapter 13, Compassion, portrays personal empathy and deep understanding. Most chapters, however, are superficially written, verbose, and stilted. Peter’s personal political and religious biases frequently emerge, unjustified, seemingly out of nowhere, leaving the reader quite baffled. In addition, Peter unabashedly juxtaposes his own poetry (not cited or previously published elsewhere) alongside John Donne, Rainer Maria Rilke, Henri Nouwen, and Dalai Lama. This book would be more credible had each chapter received prior publication as a stand-alone, thoroughly developed, and carefully edited essay.

There is increasing recognition that medical schools and residency programs should incorporate teaching on the humanities.1 Available publications abound in this emerging field. The Arts, Literature and Medicine Database2 is a vast resource. Miriam Divinsky3 read extensively on narrative and the humanities in medicine, and her bibliography will soon be accessible on the College of Family Physicians of Canada website. Peter Barritt’s book provides a limited contribution to the field. For example, I could see his book shaping the outline for a humanity and health care curriculum: a 15-week seminar series, with 1 chapter each week—suffering and spirituality, dances of death, and so on. Many of us would have welcomed such a course when we were medical students.

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