Could being vulnerable lead to better health?

Long ago, I represented a doctor who was … difficult. He was a phenomenal surgeon, world famous in his field, but he was not warm and fuzzy — not even close. Cold and hard were more his speed. We spent two weeks together, on trial in city hall. It takes about two years from the time a case is filed to the time the case goes to court. During that time, all I got was cold and hard. If the research is right, and people sue their doctors for bad communication rather than bad medicine, this doctor was showing me why that might be true. But then we went to trial, and he began to crack. Leonard Cohen once said, “There is a crack in everything, that’s where the light gets in.” I remember the moment the light came in with him. It was late at night, we were preparing for trial, and he turned to me and spoke, very softly. “We are walking into your world tomorrow, and it is so different from mine. That’s scary.” He was admitting something difficult for him to admit — there were some things he didn’t know. Our relationship changed in that moment. His vulnerability allowed me to see him differently. It helped me to represent him more thoroughly because I could urge him to embrace that vulnerability, even if just a little. If he could do it with me, he could do it with the jury. And if he could do it with the jury, he could do it with his patients. I suspected that if he found a way to let the light come in with his patients, everyone on the health care team would benefi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Malpractice Surgery Source Type: blogs