The original empathy machine: five books to illuminate the patient experience

To be alive, writes Susan Sontag, is to hold “dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.”1 Even those of us fortunate enough to enjoy good health will, sooner or later, be obliged to spend some time in “that other place.”1 Healthcare professionals, who bear witness to the vulnerability of body and mind, know this inevitability perhaps better than anyone.Many innovative ideas exist for helping medical students understand what it means to reside “in the kingdom of the sick,” from an age simulation suit that allows its wearer to experience the changes in mobility associated with ageing to virtual reality consultations.2 In the push to develop novel ways to foster empathy, however, the novel itself is, in fact, overlooked. The general practitioner and author Gavin Francis describes how books have “nudged [him] towards a more intimate understanding of those way stations of life…
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