Daily Meditation: Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Doctors have a great responsibility toward their patients. …

10/08/2003

Doctors have a great responsibility toward their patients. Their attitude and their words have effects in the psychic realm, and one never knows what positive or negative reactions they can set in motion or the repercussions these reactions will have on the patient's condition. It is unwise for a doctor to tell a patient: 'You have three months... or six months to live.' First, because there is no guarantee that he is right; experience has often shown doctors to be very wide of the mark in making such predictions. But also because it has a very negative effect on the patient, who is likely to give in to despair and be paralysed by the conviction that nothing more can be done. You say you have known sick people who, on the contrary, were stimulated to react and fight against their disease when they heard this. This is possible, of course; anything is possible, but it is certainly not true in the majority of cases. A doctor has no right to discourage his patients. And this applies not only to doctors. No one has the right to influence others negatively by limiting them and telling them that they will never succeed in their admirable projects. People must always be encouraged to work, to make efforts.