The Fiduciary Focus of the Medical Province of Meaning

Abstract

A fiduciary commitment to a client characterizes the physician’s professional status and is the second focus that marks the medical profession’s accent of meaning. The fiduciary nature of the relationship is a key element defining the boundaries of the world in which the physician operates, the world-map as drawn from the medical profession’s perspective. By asking a physician for help, the patient enters this world, this finite province of meaning, yet the patient retains a “practical” interest in the world of everyday life. He or she is not interested in theoretical matters, e.g., the philosophy of medicine or the nuances of molecular biology. The patient’s paramount interest is to “get well,” to return to his or her everyday reality for which illness is an intrusion or interruption ([295], pp. 53–91; [274]).KeywordsMedical KnowledgeSocial TrustNatural AttitudeBiomedical ModelEveryday WorldThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.