Washington Post:

Doctors and patients alike have lamented that fully booked appointment schedules, the laptop’s intrusion during history-taking, billing pressures and edicts from insurance companies are squeezing kindness out of the exam room. So what exactly do we lose when we lose kindness? It may improve doctor-patient relations and patient satisfaction, but does kindness matter for patient outcomes? Can it lower the risk of hospitalization or death? Can kindness save lives?

It’s remarkable that the question even has to be asked. When I shattered my wrist in a motorcycle accident, I was appalled at how poorly the doctors treated me. I wasn’t a human being – I was just an injury that needed to be fixed. One doctor grabbed my wrist and twisted it so much, I literally punched him in the chest. “It’s broken, you idiot!” He didn’t seem to associate the injured wrist with a person on the other end of it.