Revisiting the Value of Empathy for Bioethics Education

Ethics and empathy can be seen as conspicuous representatives of humanities-based content and ways of knowing in medical curricula. They are often seen by educators as inextricably linked, as is the case in the author’s medical school where a second-year subject entitled “Ethical Practice: Empathic Practice” (abbreviated as EP2) has been designed to promote students’ capacity to think ethically and empathically. Yet many scholars in both medical education and bioethics see these two areas as representing potentially incompatible approaches to healthcare education. Perhaps more worryingly, the pressure for space in medical curricula from various academic and clinical disciplines can also potentially lead to ethics and empathy competing for the same small space of the curriculum usually assigned to the medical humanities. This chapter explores the role of and rationales for empathy in medical curricula and its relationship with ethics education. While the value of empathy to bioethics depends partly on how empathy is conceptualized and operationalized within the curriculum, the chapter argues that empathy and ethics share both a common purpose and disciplinary foundation. They are both necessary to patient-centered care and mutually support their roles and importance in the medical curriculum.