Narrative contributes to medical ethics through the content of stories (what patients say) and by analysing their form (how they are told and why this matters). The study of fictional and fact-based stories can be an important aid to understanding medical ethics. The techniques of literary criticism can be applied to the analysis of ethical texts and practices, which can help to understand the different perspectives in an ethical dilemma In order to understand and accept a patient's moral choices, the doctor must acknowledge that a story about illness has many potential interpretations, but that the patient is the ultimate author of his or her own text.
