Body

Chapter 1 explores different conceptions of the human body and their effect on medical care and patient health. Ancient Greek texts offer opposed conceptions of the body, with athletic sources presenting the body as immune to injury and always operating at its full potential and the Hippocratic texts presenting it as weak and highly vulnerable. Similarly divergent narratives also affect modern evaluations of the body by both patients and physicians, interfering with positive health outcomes. Physicians must recognize the operation of these narratives, challenge them with data, and promote a more realistic vision of health and success for patients and healthcare organizations.

Self

Chapter 7 explores elements in the rhetoric of medicine that impede physicians’ assessments of their own health, wellness, and competence to practice. The Hippocratic texts are shaped by a rhetoric of disembodiment. In case studies, physicians appear as narrators of sickness rather than participants in efforts to combat it. The idea of the disembodied physician also plays a significant role in the rhetoric of modern medicine, obscuring the physician’s own physicality and impeding proper assessment of physical capacities. In order to provide excellent healthcare, physicians must recognize, assess, and ameliorate burnout and aging in their trainees, their peers, and themselves.

Conclusion

The conclusion emphasizes the importance of attending to the rhetoric of medicine in achieving the best health care and system outcomes for patients, physicians, and society as a whole. The negative portrait of a physician doing something immoral for money was created by the poet Pindar as an effort to shield himself from criticism that he himself was trading in commodities, not as part of a concerted attack on physicians per se. This chapter proposes that physicians should work actively on their self-presentation, not through artificial marketing strategies but by shaping a practice and profession that clearly puts patients’ welfare at its center.

Mentoring

Chapter 6 explores tensions surrounding the mentoring of trainee physicians. Victory odes articulate an ideal of mentoring as an enduring, influential, and even transformational relationship focused on building character and moral judgment rather than technical skill. At the same time, the odes expose concerns that actual mentoring can fail to achieve this ideal, and instead prove to be elitist or more focused on obtaining immediate results than fostering independent agents. Mentorship has re-emerged as a key factor in the development of modern physicians as increased attention is paid to measuring the outcomes of medical education and humanistic competencies within medicine are revalued. Mentorship should certainly be fostered, but care must be taken to design mentorship programs that are inclusive and that develop independent agents.

Autonomy

Chapter 5 explores an idea central to the medical profession, that a physician should be an autonomous agent. In the archaic and early classical period, physicians faced being associated with servility and a lack of autonomy. The autonomy of modern physicians is also threatened by a system that frames patients as customers and applies increasing pressure to make medical decisions based on broad outcomes data. Physicians should seek to regain their professional autonomy not by resisting data-based decision-making but rather by designing and leading the collection and analysis of the data, as well as creating and implementing evidence-based guidelines.

Competition

Chapter 3 explores ways in which physicians should distinguish their practice from other healthcare workers. One of Bacchylides’ odes exposes how Greek physicians sought to differentiate themselves from athletic trainers. These efforts were motivated by trainers’ success at winning business rather than concerns about their quality. The recent decision to unite postgraduate training in allopathic and osteopathic medicine in the United States offers a positive model for addressing competition, driven by concern for optimal patient care. Distinctions between healthcare practitioners should be rooted in demonstrated differences in outcomes, while all legitimate practitioners should be embraced. The goal is to provide the fundamental elements of care that patients value, including successful treatment outcomes and the affiliative and compassionate care.

Restriction

Chapter 4 examines the physician’s relationship to the broader political life of the community. The Hippocratic corpus mostly frames health in terms of an individual and seems to exclude physicians from involvement in policy and politics. Yet some physicians sought to establish a less restrictive understanding of their work that would not inhibit political engagement. Modern professionals increasingly recognize a broad range of social determinants of healthcare, with a scope that exceeds the purview of traditional physicians. Accordingly, medicine should be recognized as a profession that has real relevance to public service and qualifies its practitioners for political office.

Money

Chapter 2 explores the commoditization of healthcare and how the intrusion of money into the relationship between physician and patient undermines trust in the physician. One of Pindar’s odes links a physician’s receipt of payment to a lack of connection to the patient and a failure to observe moral principles. The same distrust accompanies the circulation of money within the medical profession. A renewed focus on patient care offers one answer to this problem, although this approach creates challenges for proceduralists whose relationship to the patient is often brief. Regulatory efforts to bolster physicians’ relationships to their patients may not be as effective as promoting humanistic ideals.

Introduction

The Introduction explores how the study of ancient Greek medicine can be of help to modern medical practitioners and other professionals as well as patients in navigating the complex arena of personal health and contemporary medical care. A history that focuses on scientific advances is rejected in favor of a history that focuses on issues of rhetoric, including professionalism, training, self-definition, and social standing. These issues can be accessed through the study of ancient statuary, monuments, poetry, and other writings. While ancient and modern medicine share a variety of elements and attitudes, they are also different in significant ways, meaning that the medicine of the late archaic Greek period will appear strange as well as familiar to modern observers. The introduction also provides a preview of each of the coming chapters and how they contribute to a broader and deeper understanding of the rhetoric of medicine and its practice in the modern world.