Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Month: March 2018

  • Finding a “new orientation” in Mexican public health: The Servicio Médico-Social

    Steve ServerChicago, Illinois, USA 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 public health services.”1 He announced that the department would be entering “a new era of social action, consequent with…

  • The York Retreat

    Beninio McDonough-TranzaLondon, United Kingdom On 15 March 1790 Hannah Mills, a recently widowed young woman suffering from “melancholy,” was admitted to York Asylum. Less than one month later, on April 29, Hannah died, isolated and alone, her friends and family having been refused permission to visit her. The death of a patient in such circumstances…

  • Poppy power

    John Graham-PoleGainesville, Florida, United States The poppy’s juice . . .brings the sleep to dear Mama— Sara Coleridge, Pretty Lessons in Verse for Good Children In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree— Samuel Coleridge, Kubla Khan, penned on waking from an opium-induced dream Of all God’s floral bounty, only papaver somnifera drips its beads…

  • Death and dying

    Tolani OlonisakinPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA 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, lifeless and inanimate. I had not seen the man in two years;…

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

    Bert HansenNew York, New York, United States Some of us are old enough to remember long Saturday afternoons in neighborhood movie theaters, where we were entertained not only by the feature films, but also several one-reel shorts that filled out the program. These included newsreels, travelogues, cartoons, little comic dramas, documentaries, and re-enacted stories from…

  • Immigrating to the in-between

    Maia EvronaMassachusetts, United States “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 than trying to convince a fellow…

  • The realities of being a millennial nurse leader

    Victorina MalonesManila, Phillippines 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, leaders in many disciplines are also younger. Businesses, organizations, and even governments often capitalize on…

  • Somnambulance and other surprises

    Brent RussellMarietta, Georgia, United States 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, she already had seen that…

  • Cancer class

    Emily DieckmanTuscon, Arizona, United States When my parents told me about the cancer, everything felt different. It seemed the entire world had suddenly gone from plain font to italics – everything was still legible, but newly emphasized by this cold, sharp, intrusive fact. I was not prepared to make room for something like this. I…

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

    Michael DaleyChicago, Illinois, United States 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 when he suddenly developed a crushing left…