Beneficence

In this extraordinary talk BJ Miller urges us towards beneficence. Beneficence is defined as an act of charity, mercy, and kindness with a strong connotation of doing good to others including moral obligation.He says "this gets right at the difference between a disease-centred and a patient or human-centred model of care. This shift in perspective to human-centred care will help us "to set our sights on well-being, so that life and health and healthcare can become about making life more wonderful, rather than less horrible."

Miller's advice is to focus on the senses, "As long as we have our senses.. we have at least the possibility of accessing what makes us feel human, connected." Tapping into that sense of wonderment - the awe we feel viewing nature, the food smells that entice us, the music that delights, the touch that comforts us. In these ways we can create ways to ease suffering and give better care. "You can always find a shock of beauty or meaning in what life you have left.'

"Let death be what takes us, not a lack of imagination."