The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession

by Farr Curlin, Christopher Tollefsen

Today’s medicine is spiritually deflated and morally adrift; this book explains why and offers an ethical framework to renew and guide practitioners in fulfilling their profession to heal. What is medicine and what is it for? What does it mean to be a good doctor? Answers to these questions are essential both to the practice of medicine and to understanding the moral norms that shape that practice. The Way of Medicine articulates and defends an account of medicine and medical ethics meant to challenge the reigning provider of services model, in which clinicians eschew any claim to know what is good for a patient and instead offer an array of “health care services” for the sake of the patient’s subjective well-being. Against this trend, Farr Curlin and Christopher Tollefsen call for practitioners to recover what they call the Way of Medicine, which offers physicians both a path out of the provider of services model and also the moral resources necessary to resist the various political, institutional, and cultural forces that constantly push practitioners and patients into thinking of their relationship in terms of economic exchange. Curlin and Tollefsen offer an accessible account of the ancient ethical tradition from which contemporary medicine and bioethics has departed. Their investigation, drawing on the scholarship of Leon Kass, Alasdair MacIntyre, and John Finnis, leads them to explore the nature of medicine as a practice, health as the end of medicine, the doctor-patient relationship, the rule of double effect in medical practice, and a number of clinical ethical issues from the beginning of life to its end. In the final chapter, the authors take up debates about conscience in medicine, arguing that rather than pretending to not know what is good for patients, physicians should contend conscientiously for the patient’s health and, in so doing, contend conscientiously for good medicine. The Way of Medicine is an intellectually serious yet accessible exploration of medical practice written for medical students, health care professionals, and students and scholars of bioethics and medical ethics.

Genres: Medicine, Religion, Nonfiction

246 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2021

Reviews

[Ronald J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most serious books I read this year.

Curlin and Tollefsen argue that medicine is not merely a technical practice but a moral vocation—and that when ethics are reduced to compliance, medicine loses its soul. The physician, they insist, is not a service provider executing preferences, but a moral agent committed to healing.

What makes the book so compelling is its resistance to false binaries. It does not pit autonomy against beneficence, or conscience against care. Instead, it asks a harder question: What kind of person should a physician be? That framing alone earns its keep.

The book restores gravity to a profession that is increasingly bureaucratized, commodified, and morally confused. It’s a reminder that not everything valuable can be protocolized.

Pull-quotes:
• “Medicine is a moral practice before it is a technical one.”
• “Conscience is not an obstacle to care—it is its foundation.”

[Adam Omelianchuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the positions advocated in this book will be too controversial for many readers to take seriously (eg, no to contraception), but the beginning and end of the book advocate for something quite sensible, and should be take seriously by all: the Way of Medicine is governed by the aim to safeguard and promote the patient's health, not provide services for whatever legal, technically feasible, and autonomously chosen interventions patients or their surrogates demand. This, of course, raises the question about how to define "health" which the authors define in objective terms: the well-working of the organism as a whole. Whatever debate ensues about how to define "health" is one they are happy to have. Everyone should appreciate, however, their critique of the baleful "provider of service model" that currently distorts the profession of medicine.

[Julia Cassella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has to read this for a class. It had a wonderful premise in the beginning, but it was far too black-and-white for me. I would not trust a doctor who relied on this book alone for their moral backbone. Would have appreciated a bit more consideration for folks of other faiths and values, but I digress.

[Abbey Beranek · Rating 1 out of 5]

I understand the purpose of this book but i think its doesn’t consider so many complex examples that don’t exactly fall under “good health” especially surrounding women’s care and patient autonomy

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every thoughtful medical practitioner should read this book. It carefully describes a way of practicing medicine that is “committed to the central good of medicine: patient health.” Yes, this is a book about medical ethics, but it is very readable.

Read again April 2024: Read with mentee medical student - a great book to read as a fourth year med student.

[Joelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to give this 3 stars because I am just the wrong audience. This is a great book for a practicing doctor or someone who is directly involved with medical ethics and patient care. It is very thorough, and it is well organized. Just a little drawn out and technical for me—a non-dr. I would recommend for a medical professional….