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Daniel Levinson, MD
University of Rochester (NY) School of Medicine

JAMA. 1970;211(13):2158.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The progress reported in "Experimentation in Medical History-Taking" (210:1443, 1969) encourages one to hope that clinical medicine is beginning to profit from the exciting advances occurring in the area of information technology. I question, however, whether any device, no matter how sophisticated, can substitute for the physician-obtained history. For one thing, the interview is more than an information-gathering activity; it is the means by which the physician and patient establish the quality of their personal relationship. A physician who does no more than look over a computer printout or a checklist may compromise or destroy his identity as an understanding human being capable of responding to the needs of his patient. The major emphasis of new methods of data-gathering, in my opinion, should be to enhance the value of the interview by freeing the physician from the necessity of personally inquiring about every item in a . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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