The Science behind the Art: Empirical Research on Medical Ethics

The last of seven images from the series The Seven Ages of a Physician. The series depicts the life progression of a doctor from birth to first encounter with suffering, through medical training, professional experience, service to country during war, and research to further knowledge. In this final painting in the series, the doctor 's heritage is that of passing along to the next generation his knowledge and vision regarding how to best be a physician. That involves not just understanding the basics of medicine, as depicted in the right half of the painting, but also understanding medicine in a more complete context, which is symbolized in the left side of the painting with the globe, the skull, and the book. The wisdom that he passes on includes understanding how doctors make decisions regarding patients—the very essence of being a complete physician—and the focus of this chapter.