The Crisis of Dehumanization in Modern Medicine

The challenge of modern medicine is not simply technological, organizational, or scientific—it is anthropological. Over the last century, Western medicine has advanced tremendously in diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities, yet these gains have often been accompanied by a troubling phenomenon: the depersonalization of the patient. This chapter introduces the scope of the problem of dehumanization in healthcare, traces its philosophical origins, and proposes that its resolution depends on recovering an integrated concept of the human person.