Danielle Ofri

“In general, empathy is easier the more we can identify with someone. When we can genuinely envision ourselves in a situation, it's…

— Danielle Ofri

“How the sadness is handled by the physician has a powerful impact on the medical care received by the patients. If the…

— Danielle Ofri

“Burnout also leads to a large swath of physicians who aren't as empathetic toward their patients as they could be.”

— Danielle Ofri

“Grief ate at these doctors, distracting them from both their families and their patients. Many reported withdrawing from emotional involvement with their…

— Danielle Ofri

“Empathy requires being attuned to the patient's perspective and understanding how the illness is woven into this particular persons' life. Last--and this…

— Danielle Ofri

“Hospital life--with its byzantine array of moving parts layered atop the unpredictable rhythms of illness--is a permanent state of flux.”

— Danielle Ofri

“Fear is a primal emotion in medicine. Every doctor can tell you of times when she or he was terrified; most can…

— Danielle Ofri

“But I realized that not only did I need to keep tuning my skills as a doctor, I also had to figure…

— Danielle Ofri

Being a doctor, I worry that the patient may be uncomfortable about sharing something. It could be sexual dysfunction, an eating disorder,…

— Danielle Ofri

“Empathy--the ability to identify with someone else's suffering--is certainly a prerequisite for a genuine apology.”

— Danielle Ofri

“Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describes emotions as the "continuous musical line of our minds, the unstoppable humming." This basso continuo thrums along while…

— Danielle Ofri

“Thus, whatever the medical student has been taught, and even genuinely believes, about the ideals of medicine, the primacy of empathy, the…

— Danielle Ofri

“But while the patient does bear some responsibility, I believe that the onus falls more heavily on the doctor to be attuned…

— Danielle Ofri

Doctors are taught in medical school that people ususally underreport their alcohol and drug use, so we genreal double the amount we're…

— Danielle Ofri

“Suddenly, I was plunged back into an avid learning environment, starting at the bottom and working my way painstakingly up the mountain.…

— Danielle Ofri

“What these older physicians exhibited is termed clinical curiosity. They stroke to understand their patients in order to elucidate the underlying medical…

— Danielle Ofri

It's so important that your doctor take a patience's values, not his, into consideration, along with the risks and benefits of treatment…

— Danielle Ofri

“It can be rough going to maintain both composure and empathy in these situations, but a doctor's failure to do that is…

— Danielle Ofri

Sandeep Jauhar specializes in peeling back the veneer, revealing the discomfiting truths of today’s medical world. He is unafraid to dig deeply…

— Danielle Ofri

“But at the most basic level, doctors need to be able to come forward with their errors and near-misses, otherwise we will…

— Danielle Ofri

“The very fact that these doctors continuing to be doctors--highly successful ones--despite their errors and their accompanying assaults on their self-definion would…

— Danielle Ofri

When a patient tells a doctor that every symptom is the most horrible ever - and the physical exam and labs are…

— Danielle Ofri