Memorandum

To:	Lisa Diomande
From:	Sujoy Bhowmik
Date:	February 8, 2016
Re:	Pediatrician Barfield and his thought about medicine

The article “The Miracle In Front Of You” by Janice Lynch Schuster published on The Sun Magazine is about a pediatric oncologist naming Raymond Barfield. Barfield has an incredible story of becoming a medical doctor with a goal to combine Philosophy and Spirituality with Medicine so that he might add a new dimension on medical treatment and its process.

Journey to become a doctor:

The journey of becoming a doctor for Barfield began two weeks before going to Columbia University where he was about to do his graduate work in philosophy so that he could teach the college students the meaning of life, but his girlfriend broke up with him at that time. It was high time for him to teach himself the true meaning of life. He sold his car and moved around for a year. When he met his friend’s father in Germany and saw him in operating theater, he discovered what he wanted to do in his life. He mentioned, “…Surgery just hit me with a force I had rarely felt. I thought, this is what I wanted to do.” After his degree and residency, he did his Ph.D.in Philosophy and began his medical practice.

The combination of Philosophy and Spirituality with Medicine:

 “Physicians use biology to help people, but to be good doctors, we also need to know something about what matters to people when they are sick or dying.” In other words, Barfield is saying that doctors have to understand the patient first. His experience of terrible situation of his mentor’s three year old child’s death shifted his view of medicine as a career. Growing up in a Presbyterian family, he learnt to enjoy the beauty of life. Though interaction with death after choosing the medical profession introduced him with universal truth of suffering and death, he did not forget the lesson from his childhood of seeing the beauty of everyday. He used it to treat the sixty percent children who survives bone marrow transplant, also the other forty percent who takes their last breath. He faced various questions from the dying patients. He saw their quest for inner peace. That is why, he believes that spiritual understanding cannot be denied. His intention is to combine philosophy with the practice of medicine. He finds an unbroken connection between his professions: Physician and Professor.  

How a patient should be treated:

Barfield thinks that the language of biology dominates medicine. Therefore he strongly encourages medical students to spend time understanding and interacting with patients more effectively. He says that it would be helpful for doctors in decision making who studied communication. In the process of treatment, he also calls for an interdisciplinary team. He admits the fact that a nurse cannot spend all of their time knowing, interacting and taking care of the patients. But he also provides a resolution where families of the patients also can play an active role in the treatment process. 

Personally, I can connect with Barfield and also agree that interaction is a necessity when it is about medical treatment. Some might argue that the emphasis that put on adding courses on communication is not relevant, because it does not affect directly on decision making. But I think decision making is important and this skill can be boosted by the practice of frequent interaction with patients. Because, it is necessary to understand the patient’s need.

 Life is all about reinventing one’s inner self. It is an opportunity that we all inherit so that we can discover the purpose of our life and leave a mark on the heart of mother Earth. In like manner, Barfield reinvent himself throughout his journey of being a pediatric oncologist. He enlightens the fact it is important to discover one’s oneself as it will lead towards the reinvention of something more significant that will change lives.

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