The Compromised Healer

The Compromised Healer

This article examines the moral ambiguity inherent in the physician's role through comparative analysis of literary narratives and historical events. Drawing on Rumi's parable of the lovesick maiden, Zohar's midrashic teachings on spiritual healing, and the historical reality of medical atrocities during the Holocaust and later in Russia and China’ state hospitals, the paper explores how physicians navigate the tension between their healing mandate and potential for harm. The physician archetype emerges as paradoxically capable of both profound healing and devastating destruction, particularly when moral autonomy becomes compromised by external authority or ideological capture.