CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

MASSIMO FOGLIA CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ be revoked. Revocation means the doctor or healthcare structure loses all power to act. It immediately puts an end to the submission of the patient who had initially agreed to treatment. 3. Doctor/Patient Communication and Treatment Time Law no. 219/2017 clarifies that everyone is entitled to know any information collected about his or her health, unless the patient explicitly refuses to receive information (i.e. “the right not to know”). The Italian Code of Medical Ethics contains a rule 31 which provides that the time during which the communication takes place between the physician and the patient is deemed to be “treatment time”. Such rule has been included into the new law 32 and implies the right of the patient to participate meaningfully in making decisions about their care. It focuses on the importance of an effective doctor-patient communication in the delivery of high-quality health care as a requirement of the informed consent 33 . It is obvious, for this reason, that the doctor’s preparation cannot be limited to the technical aspects of healthcare. Indeed, in addition to a capacity to diagnose and prescribe, the doctor should possess «“sufficient” psychological skills allowing him to deal with the complexities of the situations he will face» 34 . Above all, the doctor must possess the ability to communicate, meaning responsiveness to dialogue, the ability to listen and devise a course of treatment whilst displaying a true understanding of human nature. The ability to communicate, as we have seen, is indispensable if the doctor is to recognise the patient’s ability to make decisions and truly understand this ability, in order to offer correct information as a preamble to unshakeable consent 35 . The world of healthcare fails to devote enough time to communication matters, particularly in terms of the education healthcare providers ought to receive in terms of how they communicate with their patients. Healthcare professionals lack training, even though managers of healthcare institutions are increasingly aware of the need to organise courses led by experts in psychology and communication, entrusted with preparing staff to relate effectively with patients. Law no. 219/2017 has made the ability to communicate with patients an unavoidable aspect of medical training: « The initial and continuous training of doctors and other health care professionals includes patient relationship and communication, pain therapy and palliative care » 36 (art. 1, paragraph 10). “Clinical logotherapy”, i.e. the art of speaking to a patient, ought to feature amongst the compulsory subjects comprised in the course of studies of all healthcare professionals. As already stressed, words can heal: the use of “beautiful words” ( logos kalòs ) is a skill that 33 Cf. GAWANDE, Atul. The Heroism of Incremental Care. The New Yorker . (2017). See also KLEINMAN, Arthur. What Kind of Model for the Anthropology of Medical System. American Anthropologist 661. (1978, no. 80), p. 661 ff.; Id., Writing at the Margin. Discourse Between Anthropology and Medicine . University of California Press, Berkeley 1995. 34 National Committee for Bioethics, Informazione e consenso all’atto medico (1992):14 (available http://bioetica. governo.it/media/170635/p10_1992_informazione-e-consenso_it.pdf). 35 See KÜBLER-ROSS, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying . Scribner, New York 1969. 36 Article 1, paragraph 10. 31 Article 20 Italian Code of Medical Etichs. 32 Article 1, paragraph 8, Law no. 219/2017.

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