Skip to main content
Log in

Phenomenologically-Informed Cancer Care: An Entryway into the Art of Medicine

  • Published:
Journal of Medical Humanities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There has been increased interest in what the philosophical subdiscipline of phenomenology can contribute to medical humanities due to its dual emphases on practicality and its attempt to understand the experience of others, thus positioning it as a potentially helpful conceptual toolkit to guide clinical care. Using various figures from the phenomenological tradition, most prominently Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber, the authors illuminate relevant philosophical concepts, employ them in various examples, and provide three principles revolving around empathy, communication, and listening to patients’ individual values to guide medical professionals who practice the art of medicine in cancer care settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aho, Kevin. 2018. “Existential Medicine: Heidegger and the Lessons from Zollikon.” In Existential Medicine: Essays on Health and Illness, edited by Kevin Aho, xi-xxiv. London and New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2020. Existentialism, Second Edition. Cambridge and Medford, MA: Polity.

  • Aristotle. 2009. The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by David Ross. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Association of American Medical Colleges. 2004. Educating Doctors to Provide High Quality Medical Care: A Vision for Medical Education in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Association of American Medical Colleges.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buber, Martin. 1970. I and Thou. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burdon-Sanderson, J. B. 1900. “The Relation between Science and Medicine.” Nature 6: 254-255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campo, Rafael. 2005. “‘The Medical Humanities,’ for Lack of a Better Term.” Journal of the American Medical Association 294 (9): 1009-1011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassel, Eric J. 1982. “The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine.” New England Journal of Medicine 306 (11): 639-645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Committee on the Roles of Academic Health Centers in the 21st Century. 2003. Academic Health Centers: Leading Change in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: Institute of Medicine.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Commonwealth Fund. 2002. Training Tomorrow’s Doctors: The Medical Education Mission of Academic Health Centers. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffin, Jacalyn. 2010. History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction, Second Edition. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, Thomas P. 2011. “The Flexner Report—100 Years Later.” Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 84 (3): 269-276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Familietti, Robin M., Emily C. Neal, Timothy J. Edwards, Pamela K. Allen, and Thomas A. Buchholz. 2013. “Determinants of Patient Satisfaction during Receipt of Radiation Therapy.” International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics 87 (1): 148-152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, Abraham. 1910. Medical Education in the United States and Canada. Washington, D.C.: Science and Health Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel. 1975. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. Translated by A. M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Vintage.

  • Frank, Arthur W. 1991. At the Will of the Body. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawande, Atul. 2014. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. New York: Metropolitan Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, Martin. 1962. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. New York: Harper & Row.

  • ____. 1979. Nietzsche, Volume 1. Translated by David Farell Krell. New York: Harper & Row.

  • ____. 2001. Zollikon Seminars: Protocols-Conversations-Letters. Edited by Medard Boss and translated by Franz Mayr and Richard Askay. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

  • Husserl, Edmund. 2001. Logical Investigations, Volume 1. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 2002. The Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by M. Colin Smith. London and New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Robb, Kathryn A., Alice E. Simon, Anne Miles, and Jane Wardle. 2014. “Public Perceptions of Cancer: A Qualitative Study of the Balance of Positive and Negative Beliefs.” The British Medical Journal Open 4:1-6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russon, John, and Kirsten Jacobson. 2018. “Existential Medicine and the Intersubjective Body.” In Existential Medicine: Essays on Health and Illness. London and New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, Edith. 1989. The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Volume Three: On the Problem of Empathy. Translated by Waltraut Stein. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications.

  • Svenaeus, Fredrik. 2020. “To Die Well: The Phenomenology of Suffering and End of Life Ethics.” Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 23:335-342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tran, Yvonne, Klay Lamprell, Brona Nic Giolla Easpaig, Gaston Arnolda, and Jeffrey Braithwaite. 2019. “What Information do Patients Want Across their Cancer Journeys? A Network Analysis of Cancer Patients’ Information Needs.” Cancer Medicine 8 (1): 155-164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahavi, Dan and Kristian M. M. Martiny. 2019. “Phenomenology in Nursing Studies: New Perspectives.” International Journal of Nursing Studies 93:155-162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Casey Rentmeester.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest/Competing interests

The authors report no conflicts of interest or competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rentmeester, C., Bake, M. & Riemer, A. Phenomenologically-Informed Cancer Care: An Entryway into the Art of Medicine. J Med Humanit 43, 443–453 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-021-09724-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-021-09724-z

Keywords

Navigation