Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Winter 2018

  • Finding a “New Orientation” in Mexican Public Health: the Servicio Médico-Social

    Steve Server Chicago, Illinois, USA   The Palace of the Inquisition, the site of the old National Medical School, Plaza Santo Domingo, Mexico City In the 1935-1936 issue of the Mexican Public Health Department’s newsletter, Salubridad, the newly-minted Chief of the Department, Doctor and General José Siurob, offered a vision for the “new orientation for…

  • The York Retreat

    Beninio McDonough-Tranza London, United Kingdom   Painting of the York Retreat by George Isaac Sidebottom, a patient at the retreat in the 1890s and early 1900s. Image from the retreat archives (RET/2/1/7/5), courtesy of the Welcome Collection. On 15 March 1790 Hannah Mills, a recently widowed young woman suffering from “melancholy,” was admitted to York…

  • Poppy power

    John Graham-Pole Gainesville, Florida, United States   Dr. Graham-Pole with cancer patient, Bridget. At the time of the photo, Bridget had life-threatening cancer requiring opioids, and is now a successful artist. Author photo. The poppy’s juice . . .brings the sleep to dear Mama — Sara Coleridge, Pretty Lessons in Verse for Good Children   In…

  • Death and dying

    Tolani Olonisakin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA   Memento mori, remember death. Photo Credit: Southtyrolean, Stencil art. Seville, Spain. Six weeks after I turned eighteen, I lost my father. I was told he died of a cardiac arrest. One minute he was reading the morning paper, and the next minute he lay sprawled across the living room floor,…

  • Medical history on the silver screen: Hollywood’s ten-minute films about medical heroes

    Bert Hansen New York, New York, United States   Figure 1. Frame of Christiaan Eijkman in Java considering the dietary difference between polished and unpolished rice, from The Magic Alphabet © MGM 1942. All rights reserved. Some of us are old enough to remember long Saturday afternoons in neighborhood movie theaters, where we were entertained…

  • Immigrating to the in-between

    Maia Evrona Massachusetts, United States    Photo courtesy of Maia Evrona “But you have an accent. Where are you from originally?” I have learned to expect this question whenever I make a new acquaintance, whether the meeting occurs outside of the United States or in my home state of Massachusetts. There are few experiences more surreal…

  • The realities of being a millennial nurse leader

    Victorina Malones Manila, Phillippines   Nursing advertisement published by the American Association of the Red Cross in 1918 People may well think that being a millennial only has something to do with social media, selfies, travel, make-up tutorials, impulsiveness, recklessness, carelessness, or freedom. But as the world keeps getting smaller through interconnectivity and constant mobility,…

  • Somnambulance and other surprises

    Brent Russell Marietta, Georgia, United States   Palpation for tusks In one of the odder experiences of my life, I woke up in the middle of the night to find my wife prodding my face with her fingers. “What are you doing?” I asked. “I’m trying to see whether you have tusks,” she replied. Apparently,…

  • Cancer class

    Emily Dieckman Tuscon, Arizona, United States   The author’s aunt documented her mom’s chemotherapy journey through photographs, making signs for loved ones to hold in photographs to show support. (Author photo.) When my parents told me about the cancer, everything felt different. It seemed the entire world had suddenly gone from plain font to italics –…

  • Case of the authentic chest pain thought too good to be true

    Michael Daley Chicago, Illinois, United States    Free your mind of bias. Mr. Bob Stevenson was fifty-one and had a history of intravenous drug abuse. He was sent to our emergency department on a Friday afternoon from the local detention center, with a chief complaint of chest pain. He said he had been watching television…