The Forgotten Art Of Healing And Other Essays

Art of Healing,this collection of nine masterly and thought-provoking essays is written by a physician of wide repute who shares his views on medicine, divorced from its technical aspects. The crisis of modern medicine lies in the erosion of the doctor–patient relationship. The reasons for this and also for the mistrust and antagonism felt by many against the medical profession are brought into sharp focus in the essay ‘A Perspective on Contemporary Medicine'. ‘Medicine in the Future' discusses the uncertainty of the path ahead and of the dangers that confront mankind if ethical considerations fail to channelize scientific discoveries of the future. ‘The Story of Anaesthesia' and ‘Landmarks in Modern Medicine' have been described with the easy fluency of a first-rate raconteur, while the controversial question of ‘Euthanasia' has been debated with balance and erudition. The author explores the relation between ‘Art and Medicine' in a well-researched and illustrated essay, written with delicacy and passion. In ‘Medicine and Religion', Udwadia traces their interaction over 5000 years of history. Finally, in the ‘Convocation Address at the Benaras Hindu University' he expresses values that lie deeply entrenched in the heart of medicine.