Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Month: April 2017

  • The Rockefeller Institute and the growth of cell biology

    Adil Menon Brookline, Massachusetts, United States   The Rockefeller Institute In 1995 Nobel-winning cell biologist George Palade stated that “a newborn baby needs, of course, a friendly, comfortable cradle, which was provided by the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and thus became the American cradle of cell biology.”[1] This essay explores the unique aspects of…

  • Public insurance expansion versus a single payer system

    Adil Menon Brookline, Massachusetts   Since the late 1940s when employer based private health insurance became increasingly prevalent in the United States, the expansion of public health insurance to a growing share of the population has been viewed as the best approach to helping people, particularly those on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum,…

  • When a movie ticket to the battered may help!

    Rema Sundar Trivandrum, Kerala, India   No Discrimination! ‘The World’s Women 2015: Trends and Statistics’ by United Nations Statistics Division (Creative Commons) Domestic violence awareness through film When four-time Grammy Award winner Tracy Chapman crooned “Last night I heard the screaming,” she was reflecting on a global public health problem. Instances of abuse and violence…

  • Medicine’s old-school technology

    Katie Taylor San Francisco, CA   I am six months into my first year of residency as a doctor. And my experience so far has been sorrowfully screen-dominated. If aliens were to come down and observe a day in the life, I am afraid they’d assume the computer is the patient and the patient’s room…

  • Using bacteria in cancer therapy

    Andy Tay Los Angeles, California, United States   Image of Lloyd Old, who is regarded as ‘The Father of Modern Tumor Immunology’, taken in 1995. He passed away on November 28, 2011 after a long battle with prostate cancer at the age of 78 years-old. Cancer Research Institute Cancer is a complex disease whose various…

  • Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska: immigrant, physician, teacher

    Cynthia Kramer Waianae, Hawaii, United States   Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska was a female physician and teacher, at a time when women were not taken seriously in the field of medicine by their male counterparts. She served as head midwife at the Royal Charite Hospital in Berlin, Germany, then moved to the United States and received…

  • Designer babies: boon or bane?

    Hanashu Durganaudu Selangor, Malaysia   Tiny feet of newborn baby Would the implementation of ‘designer babies’  be a boon to humans? First and foremost, it helps to detect known genetic abnormalities and chromosomal diseases at an early stage. This would be particularly helpful for couples or individuals who possess a high risk of passing down…

  • Sunday Sally Rose

    Matthew Kinsella Browns Mills, New Jersey, United States   Rose symbolism on gravestone, submitted by author As the new triage nurse on  the City Department Of Homeless Services Street Outreach Team, I could observe at first, orient, get my bearings. Well acquainted with the stark reality of life on the street, my three interdisciplinary teammates…

  • Moritz Romberg

      Like many other pioneers in the medical sciences, Moritz Romberg would hardly be remembered today were it not for his description of a test that, just as Joseph Babinksi’s, is still part of the routine neurologic examination. The Romberg test is deemed to be positive when the patient becomes unsteady on standing with feet…

  • Dead people healing alcoholism

    Maria BarnaSibiu, Romania In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many villages in the Moldavia region of Romania where doctors hardly ever came. When people became ill they found hope in prayers or in the secret knowledge of initiated women. Thus the treatment of alcoholism was based on empirical and magical medicine.…