Seeing the Invisible

Abstract

This article focuses on three different ways that we may demean people by seeing them as less than they are, and describes ways we may best avoid doing this. More specifically, I explain how we may not see the physical and emotional issues that plague patients and others. This may be because they choose not to disclose their difficulties to us. We may also err when we see only one aspect of who and how others are. These challenges pose ethical quandaries that involve equity, improved communication with patients, and subjecting ethical principles to empirical study before we adopt them. I explore the means to do these.