Against the power of a doctor's touch

Doctor McCoy, not touching a patient.

Many years ago, I gave my first presentation at TED, as part of a session called Feelings. My talk was on the nature of pleasure, and I felt it went well, but it wasn’t the hit of the session. This was the one by Abraham Verghese, a world-respected writer and physician. (see here for the text of his talk.)

Verghese is a great storyteller who moved the audience with his warmth and intelligence. He argued that something has been lost in modern medicine.

When we lean towards ordering tests instead of talking to and examining the patient, we not only overlook simple diagnoses that can be diagnosed at a treatable, early stage, but we're losing much more than that. We're losing a ritual. We're losing a ritual that I believe is transformative, transcendent, and is at the heart of the patient-physician relationship. … I'd like to introduce you to the most important innovation, I think, in medicine to come in the next 10 years, and that is the power of the human hand -- to touch, to comfort, to diagnose and to bring about treatment.

Verghese told a story about a friend of his who had a lumpectomy and was searching for the best cancer center in the country to get subsequent care.

And she found the place and decided to go there … Which is why I was surprised a few months later to see her back in our own town, getting her subsequent care with her private oncologist. And I pressed her, and I asked her, "Why did you come back and get your care here?" And she was reluctant to tell me. She said, "The cancer center was wonderful. It had a beautiful facility, giant atrium, valet parking, a piano that played itself, a concierge that took you around from here to there. But," she said, "but they did not touch my breasts."

Here are the first comments that popped up on the YouTube video of his talk. People were moved.

Verghese said a lot that I agree with, particularly about the need for doctors to listen to their patients. But his key message about the power of the doctor’s touch does not resonate with me, not in the slightest. I’ve rarely heard a talk that I disagreed with more.