By Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Thomas Bohrer
Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Thomas Bohrer reflects on the medical conversation as the constitutive feature of the doctor-patient relationship. In modern clinics and practices, stress, time pressure, digital processes and economic perspectives often reduce communication to what seems necessary. In palliative medicine, however, time and the way communication happens become central.
Bohrer argues that medicine must not only transmit information but also convey its meaning with empathy and responsibility. He cites Bernhard Lown’s example of a patient who misunderstood a medical abbreviation and developed fatal panic, showing how language can have medical consequences.
The article turns to philosophy and anthropology: human beings are not machines. Every stimulus, word and medical fact is interpreted within an individual life history. The doctor must therefore place medical information into the patient’s specific personal and social world.
Bohrer concludes that good communication creates trust and safety, benefits health economics and patient safety, and is not merely an administrative duty. The medical conversation is the central human task and privilege of physicians and all those working in palliative care.
