Recensione a Larghero M. - Lombardi Ricci E. (a cura di), Bioetica e Medicina narrativa. Nuove prospettive di cura. Edizioni Camilliane, Torino, 2012

[Autom. eng. transl.] the reviewed volume is inspired by the need to consider the patient not only as a person suffering from a pathology. For this reason, the curators must acquire tools to take charge of the sick existence and its context, that is, to combine medical art with the art of communicating and with charity. A true proximity to the sick and his needs can therefore be guaranteed only through the word which is the true medicine of the soul that suffers (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound). Thus was born the need for a "narrative medicine", which intends to combine medical science with humanistic and literary studies and with the sensitivity descending from their deepening. The narrative approach, as shown in the book, has a relevance both on the diagnostic side, helping to better identify the pathology, and on the therapeutic one, facilitating in many cases the effectiveness of the treatment.