Abstract
The role of religion in clinical ethics consultations is contested. The religion of the ethics consultant can be an important part of the consultation process and improve the quality of a consultation. Practicing neighbor love leads to empathy, which not only can improve the quality of ethics consultations but also creates a space for religion to be part of, but not imposed on, the consultation. The practice of empathy will build trust, rapport, and an intersubjective connection that improves the quality of the consultation. (The views expressed are the author’s and not representative of any institution or employer).
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Notes
From my own unique vantage point, my ultimate goal is to shed light on the power of empathy for those who practice and are interested in clinical ethics. For me, the discourse and language adequate to the challenge and depth of such a task is Christian theology. Many people can interpret empathy and argue for its importance without bringing Christian theology into the discussion.
My thinking on neighbor love, empathy, and clinical ethics was first developed in my dissertation (Bauck, 2017).
Because of the changes in the global spiritual and communal landscape, there is increasing interaction with different worldviews within the same community (city, town, and institutions)—worldviews that could differ fundamentally in every way (Jones and Cox, 2017). Some have referred to this as late modernity or postmodernity. Ethical disagreements in communities are not new phenomena—as if in the modern period when communities were more culturally homogeneous everyone somehow agreed with everyone else. Cultures have never been completely bounded and demarcated units that were homogeneous in their praxis and belief. There has been and is a blurring of boundaries and cross-fertilization between cultures, as well as pluriformity and fluidity within cultures (Giddens, 1991; Tanner, 1997).
Self-referential overtones come from the philosophical context of the New Testament. Greco-Roman ethical paradigms are part of the New Testament. One loved one’s neighbor because the neighbor was seen as another version of the self. Aristotle, for example, claims one’s friends are another version of the self and one’s friends desire the same things as oneself (Aristotle, 350 B.C.E./2014). Empathy, however, does not focus on the self but on the other person. Modern psychology has shown how we misinterpret how other people think, feel, and experience the world (Epley, 2014).
Pannenberg’s understanding of the spirit is God-Holy Spirit. One can think of the spirit that moves between and within us as God calling us to love the neighbor. One may also choose to refer to it as.
Compassion, Caring, Great Spirit, Higher Power, Transcendence, Sacredness, Life Force, or Love (the capitalization being intentional to designate foundational spiritual or religious commitments).
But what does the EC do if the patient or surrogate is not communicative? These situations arise because the patient is unresponsive, the patient or surrogate don’t want to or can’t communicate verbally about the care plan decision, or maybe there is a language difference that can impede nuanced communication even with the help of an interpreter. In these situations, the EC should communicate only what they are able to confidently understand. If no or very little communication is possible, then communicating the general difficulty of the situation and decision might be appropriate and will avoid projecting the EC’s feelings and thoughts onto the patient or surrogate.
Professionally, I don’t find it necessary to state my beliefs or meta-ethical commitments. I would be true to my own beliefs and practice if I simply said, “I care about people and have worked hard to empathize with those I care for. Being empathic is something I care about and work on in my clinical practice.” I may be importing clinical practices from chaplaincy. However, this is also good clinical practice for many disciplines, including the work of an EC, for whom basic therapeutic listening is part of their role. These are just some examples. I do not think ECs should eschew normal human interactions and create awkwardness in the consultation process. I simply do not believe religious beliefs of the EC have an explicit and specific role in the verbal or written details of the EC’s ethical judgements.
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Bauck, P. Practicing Neighbor Love: Empathy, Religion, and Clinical Ethics. HEC Forum 35, 237–252 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-021-09466-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-021-09466-4