Finding a human touch in digital age medicine

When I was at Med School, one of my favorite question was: "What does it mean to be human in nowadays medicine?". So far, I have been unable to answer it adequately. Nevertheless, this still unanswered question deserves a comment. I find really interesting how this question and its meaning have changed over years. Asking today the same question today, I would say: "What does it mean to be human in the age of digital medicine?"

Making the real patient in front of them an iPatient, nowadays doctors are losing their human touch. Once upon a time the practice of Medicine was believed to be something between science and art, now it is becoming a "mere technology". Clinicians are now techno-doctors, they work like computers in a world of computers. We need to regain our human touch.

Not surprisingly, there are many doctors who are currently struggling to lead the technological change of the digital medicine bringing a human touch in it. Abraham Verghese, professor of Medicine, at Stanford University, is one of the most representative figure of this battle. His commitment for a more human patient-doctor relationship is an example of how the oldest values of Medicine may be preserved in our everyday clinical practice, facing the many challenges of technology.