"My Story Is Broken; Can You Help Me Fix It?": Medical Ethics and the Joint Construction of Narrative

This essay explores some ethical implications of a narrative conception of the physician-patient relationship. I shall argue that the moral basis of the relationship is best preserved and enhanced when the physician and patient go about developing meaning within their encounter in a particular way. Ideally, the physician-patient relationship should be both ethically sound and therapeutically effective. Constructing certain sorts of narratives within that relationship attaches meaning to the patient's illness experience in a way that enhances the healing potential of the encounter. Moreover, when narratives are jointly constructed, power is shared between physician and patient, and the sharing of power constitutes an important ethical safeguard within the relationship.