Shapiro, J, Shapiro, D H Jr
Humanism and holism have hit the medical profession with the searing force of righteous anger, and the health-care system will never be the same. As a powerful counterforce to the increasing technology and dehumanization of post-Flexnerian medicine, which posits an omnipotent technician-physician and a passive, helpless patient, humanism and holism emphasize consideration of the person rather than the disease, the interpersonal relations between physician and patient4 and the individual patient’s responsibility as an initiating participant in his or her own health care.