THE MORAL EDUCATION OF MEDICAL-STUDENTS

The author begins his essay by discussing George Eliot's novel Middlem arch, in which a doctor, early in his career, wanders from his idealis tic commitment to serving the poor. Although he establishes a prominen t practice, he considers himself a failure because ''he had not done w hat he once meant to do.'' The essay explores how many of us (physicia ns included) forsake certain ideals or principles-not in one grand ges ture, but in moment-to-moment decisions, in day-to-day rationalization s and self-deceptions, until we find ourselves caught in lives whose i mplications we have long age stopped examining, never mind judging. Me dical education barrages students with information, fosters sometimes ruthless competition, and perpetuates rote memorization and an obsessi on with test scores-all of which stifle moral reflection. Apart from r adically rethinking medical education (doing away with the MCAT, for e xample, as Lewis Thomas proposed), how can we teach students to consid er what it means to be a good doctor? Calling upon the work of Eliot, Walker Percy, and others, the author discusses how they study of liter ature can broaden and deepen the inner lives of medical students and e ncourage moral reflectiveness.