ABSTRACT
This chapter is built around patients’ stories of their participation in teaching encounters and what the experience meant to them. Robin felt he was actively engaged in one tutorial, but believed he was usually treated like a piece of equipment. Victor had been examined by many students because of his interesting heart murmur. He saw them as lacking courage and, while he empathised with them, he too felt that he was used as a passive object, and was disappointed that students showed no interest in his illness experience. A story follows about a doctor who demonstrated abnormal signs using the body of a patient as a teaching aid without her consent, despite her non-verbal protest. The findings of the analysis of these stories are discussed in relation to literature on objectification and dehumanisation in medical education. There are many reports of patients being treated as if they lacked human emotions, preferences and interests. Treating a person in this way is inconsistent with good medical practice and is likely to inhibit the capacity of students or doctors to empathise with them. Involving patients as active participants rather than passive objects should reduce the risk of dehumanisation in clinical teaching encounters.
