Abstract
This discussion is focused on the patient's body in routine, popular, or standard medicine, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, or atherosclerosis. Medicine related to extraordinary treatment such as organ transplantation, research, and denial from the patient to be treated based upon his/her age and so on, are beyond the limits of this discussion. Since ancient times, medicine has been a method to relieve a patient's pain and suffering. Modern medicine has made new discoveries in many diseases and their pathological mechanisms, as well as many new discoveries in the physiological aspects of the human body. It has recently shed new light on cells, molecules, and genes. We are however left with many unknown diseases. Medical methodology treats a patient as an object, objectively and scientifically. However, it should be a priority to treat a patient as a person, and to respect his/her patient's rights and human dignity. The doctor should explain the diagnosis, pathophysiology, risk factors and the hygiene, treatments, alternate therapies, prognosis, etc., to the patient. My answer to this question, what do I think about the patient's body?, is that the patient's body belongs to the patient, for the time being. The human body, however, is a nature in itself. In the studies of the human body as a nature, there are still many far beyond human intelligence. Although a patient is ill with some disease, he/she has his/her own lifestyle as a human being. We, physicians and patients, should not forget the natural aspect of the patient's body or his/her own lifestyle.
