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## I N A RECENTLY PUBLISHED SERIES of témoignages on death by leading French artists and personnalités, Jean-Christophe Rufin, a clinician, writer, and one-time French ambassador to Senegal, declares that "La mort est consubstantielle à mon métier. On est en contact avec les cadavres. [...] On s'habitue." 1 Rufin's point-made in the reference to contact with "les cadavres" rather than "les corps," still less "les patients"-is that clinicians who work in modern medicine have become desensitized to death. This suggestion is reinforced by consultant gastroenterologist Seamus O'Mahony in his reflection on Western attitudes to mortality. With specific reference to what he terms the "immunity" of the medical profession, O'Mahony writes, "although we see it every day, doctors do not think very much about death and dying." 2 Rufin and O'Mahony, in their observations, remind us that the distinctive roles allocated to "doctor" and "patient" in modern medicine ensure that clear subjectivities are enforced to each. Professional barriers must be maintained, not least as a protective measure to ensure the doctor's emotional protection and wellbeing. "Le rôle du médecin," Pascal Hammel, of Paris'

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Author

Steven Wilson

Publisher

Project MUSE

Published

2021

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)