At Second Annual Steve Miller Fund Lecture, Dr. Carol Berkowitz Urges Humanism and Advocacy in the Care of Children

View video of lecture

John Driscoll, MD, and Carol D. Berkowitz, MD.

NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 13??? New York pediatrician Steve Miller died in 2004 in a tragic accident, and his family, friends, and admirers honored him by establishing a lectureship in his name. In the second annual lecture sponsored by The Steve Miller Fund for Humanism in Medicine and held at the Academy on Oct. 11, Carol D. Berkowitz, MD, of UCLA urged medical students and physicians to emphasize humanistic care of patients as Miller did, and to advocate for the best possible healthcare for children too young to speak for themselves.

Miller was known as an extraordinary pediatrician, humanist, and educator who was passionate about teaching medical students and embedding humanism into clinical care and medical education. He built a world-class emergency department at the Morgan Stanley Children???s Hospital at New York Presbyterian Medical Center. ???Steve was the very first person I hired when I became Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics,??? said John Driscoll, MD, Department Chairman as well as Chair of the Miller Fund, in opening remarks at the lecture. ???It was probably the smartest decision I made as chairman.???

Driscoll said that at the first lecture, held last year, he was filled more with sadness. ???Tonight, I stand before you more filled with gratefulness from having known the man, worked with the man, been influenced by the man . . . and learned from him every single day,??? he said. ???Tonight is really to me a celebration of a life of a truly great man who had a profound influence on everybody he met and encountered, and he cared innately about each one of us regardless of our status in life.??? Miller took the time to care about his patients rather than solely administer medical care, Driscoll said, encouraging the young doctors in attendance to do the same.

Guest lecturer Carol Berkowitz addressed the 62-person audience on the topic of ???The ABCs of Humanism: A is for Advocacy.??? Berkowitz is Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UCLA???s David Geffen School of Medicine. She told the crowd that curiosity is among the most important qualities for a humanistic doctor. When she accompanies residents on chart rounds, Berkowitz said, she encourages them to ask patients meaningful questions that will elicit useful information that may contribute to the understanding of their illness.

Berkowitz gave a recent example of what questions do, and do not, work well. She and a resident had stopped in to see a14-year-old boy suffering from a viral infection and when the resident asked, ???What???s new???? the boy replied, ???Nothing.??? Berkowitz advised doctors against accepting that answer and ordering rounds of lab tests too quickly. Instead, she urged doctors to ask, ???How old are you???? ???What school do you go to???? ???Have any big changes occurred in your life???? Berkowitz asked the boy those questions and learned he had been away on a summer vacation and had just begun high school for the first time. These two facts offered potential insight into diagnosing and treating his illness. Berkowitz said that the curiosity-laced approach to clinical medicine was beautifully summed up by a doctor who recently testified at a hearing of the federal Medicaid Advisory Commission, on which Berkowitz sits. The doctor, Lea Ann Moricle, told the commission that she asks her patients, ???What else is important for me to know about you today to be your doctor????

Berkowitz also praised iconoclastic approaches to healing ??? calling them ???evidence-based magic??? ??? and urged physicians not to lose the uniqueness of their interactions with patients even as technological and pharmacological interventions advance. Berkowitz recalled that when she was treating youths who had been sexually assaulted, she???d present them with certificates adorned with stickers and proclaiming them in good health. Patients may very well mirror the positive thoughts that doctors emit, she said. ???As physicians, we have the ability to do that,??? Berkowitz said.

As a humanistic pediatrician, Berkowitz said part of her role is to advocate for the resources that children need. Serving as a non-voting member on the federal Medicaid Advisory Commission allows her to be a voice in support of the proper financing of children???s health benefits through Medicaid. The Deficit Reduction Act that President Bush instituted in February was designed to reduce the rising costs of Medicaid and threatens ???tough times ahead??? for children, Berkowitz said. Children account for nearly half of all Medicaid recipients, yet enjoy only 20 percent of the expenditures. ???Our mantra is, kids aren???t drawing up the cost of Medicaid,??? she said.

In the United States, far too many people are struggling in poverty and horrible living conditions, and don???t get the attention they desperately need, Berkowitz said. Healthcare for Native Americans in this country is a national disgrace, she said: more than 40 percent of those children are obese, and more than 70 percent suffer from tooth decay, she said. Quoting former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Berkowitz said, "The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."

???We as pediatricians have to be even more vigilant about the harm that could come to children,??? said Berkowitz, the former President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ???When you examine your life, what will you see? I think if Steve examined his life, he would see the legacy that he has left us all. That???s the relationship to advocacy and humanism: making a difference, and trying to help somebody else. And as you help others, always make sure that you don???t ignore your family.???

The Steve Miller Fund for Humanism in Medicine is administered by the Academy with support from the Arnold Gold Foundation and friends and colleagues of Dr. Miller. In addition to an annual lecture and award, the Miller Fund will provide mini-grants to support work by medical students and residents, visiting professorships, summer fellowships for medical students, curriculum development, and research in humanism. Make a secure contribution to the Miller Fund online at www.nyam.org/contribute/contribute.php.

Founded in 1847, The New York Academy of Medicine is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institution whose mission is to enhance the health of the public. The Academy is a leading center for urban health policy and action working to enhance the health of people living in cities worldwide through research, education, advocacy, and prevention. Visit us online at www.nyam.org.

View video of lecture

 Print   Subscribe

 

Posted on October 13, 2006

Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

 

More NYAM News Articles