Nuestra NEBRIJA 31 - octubre 2019

34 Ramón Ortega Lozano. Professor at the San Rafael-Nebrija University Center There are three moments in people's lives when one is aware of their vulnerability: the first, when you are a child. Remember that if something scared us, all we had to do was flee and hide behind our mother's skirts or we asked grownups for help in reaching those objects that seemed completely out of our reach and that they, however, just by stretching a little, grabbed easily. The second, in old age, when one knows that there is never enough time to traverse a crosswalk while the cars are waiting at a red light, or when that bone ache makes getting up out of bed, formerly a routine act, now becomes a challenge. And third, when an illness appears and we realize that the health we lost was the greatest joy that man can enjoy. I have intentionally mentioned being aware, because the truth is that man is a vulnerable being and exposed to the designs of chance. The illness, as has been said, makes us see our fragility, and when it happens, we seek protection in health professionals with the hope that they will return the lost good. The ethics of treatment becomes especially important when, in the words of Emmanuel Levinas, one receives another person's call, that is, when any human being who suffers and needs help calls on us. I put it in italics because it is not necessarily an explicit call. When a person sees another in a state of vulnerability and knows that he is able to help him, that call must be answered with responsibility and ethics. We cannot ignore that call and we should be willing to answer it. A health professional has been trained with the intention of helping people when an illness occurs and to try to prevent this event. The problem is that this help must be provided in response to various dimensions that, many times, mere technical knowledge does not allow to address adequately. When a person is in a state of vulnerability due to illness, he needs, in addition to drugs, therapeutic techniques and diagnostic tests, for someone to look into his eyes, to comfort him with closeness and tact, and to treat him as a person and not as a pathology or a room number, in short, to be cared for. Because a cure is sometimes possible, but, most of the time, our current medical science can only alleviate, control or keep illness at bay. That is when it is clear that the most important thing is to take care of someone. Therefore, when a health worker wants to practice his profession ethically, he must care for the patient. He has to answer the call of that vulnerable person and actually see his face. As Francesc Torralba explains “[…] the last idea A health professional has been trained with the intention of helping people when an illness appears When a person is in a state of vulnerability due to illness, he needs to be treated as a person and not as a pathology. Empathy will be the key to treating the patient with dignity, taking into account the patient's entire context. “Caring for a patient entails much more than healing ” Nebrija Research