The Dignity of the Sick: Narrative Medicine in the Process of Restoring the Subjectivity of the Patient

Magdalena SZPUNAR

Instytut Socjologii, Wydział Nauk Społecznych, Uniwersytet Śląski, ul. Bankowa 11, 40-007 Katowice, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The sense of dignity is an individual concept that undergoes various changes depending on the circumstances of a particular person. The right of the person to have her dignity respected appears as self-evident and thus indisputable. However, the social praxis involving patients with a loss of consciousness, memory disorders or mental disorders tends to undermine this right, thus making it necessary to continually call for respect for the dignity of sick persons. Showing respect to human dignity in a difficult time of illness is of key importance as it shapes beliefs and attitudes of patients, their faith (or a lack thereof) in the success of the treatment, and their will to combat the disease. Sensitizing physicians and other healthcare personnel to patients as human beings, giving patients back their agency and, in the first place, their voice, of which, during therapy, they were deprived, may be one of the important forms of restoring the lost dignity to patients. Narrative medicine plays a major role in such a process.

Keywords:

dignity, narrative medicine, communicative competence, disease, health, treatment process, pathosystem