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A leading cardiologist urges the 123 graduates of UNE's medical college to commit to social causes.

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Staff Writer June 7, 2009

PORTLAND — The doctor-patient relationship is the ailment perhaps most in need of healing, one of the nation's leading cardiologists told graduates of the University of New England's College of Osteopathic Medicine Saturday.

In remarks prepared for the commencement ceremony, Dr. Bernard Lown said medicine is increasingly driven by economic concerns, rather than medical concerns, and doctors have become aloof from their patients.

Lown, who is senior physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and professor of cardiology emeritus at the Harvard School of Public Health, said doctors tend to focus on their specialties and "on the dysfunctional organ rather than the ailing human being."

Meanwhile, he said, patients long for care and are more interested in a strong relationship with a doctor than the doctor's credentials.

"The healing process transcends dispensing appropriate drugs and procedures," Lown said. "It requires mobilizing positive expectations and stimulating faith in the physician's ministrations within an emotionally supportive relationship."

Lown also encouraged the graduates – 123 with doctor of osteopathic medicine degrees and 21 with master of public health degrees – to become committed to social causes. He noted that one group with which he was affiliated, Physicians for Social Responsibility, played a role in changing public attitudes toward nuclear weapons and encouraged treaties banning atmospheric tests for nuclear weapons. Another – International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – helped ease the threat of nuclear war, he said.