Published in Virtues and Principles in Healthcare

Keywords: Compassion, Doctor-patient relationship., Edmund D. Pellegrino, Virtue ethics.

Compassion is on the list of virtues that many bioethicists consider indispensable for the provision of more humanized health care and taking into account the best interest of patients. After an introduction of the theory of virtue ethics and its importance to bioethics and healthcare, we will present the etymological and semantic meaning of the virtue of compassion, particularly from the perspective of Edmund D. Pellegrino and David C. Thomasma. Since, in our opinion, bioethical reflection only makes sense if it is relevant or could be applied to everyday clinical practice, we will present some practical examples involving the virtue of compassion especially in the doctor-patient relationship.