Moral judgment in medicine: “sensibility of heart”
Jack Coulehan Stony Brook, New York, United States Clinicians in Intensive Care Unit. 2011. Photo by Calleamanecer. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0 I want to reflect on the role of emotions, or “sensibility of heart,” in medical judgment. I take the term “judgment,” in general, to refer to the human capacity of assessing, analyzing, […]
Revisiting the “Trolley Problem” in the COVID-19 pandemic
Margaret B. Mitchell Boston, Massachusetts, United States Graham M. Attipoe Nashville, Tennessee, United States Bridge situation. John Holbo. 2010. CC BY-NC 2.0. Via Flickr The “Trolley Problem” Originally described by Philipa Foot in 1967, the “Trolley Problem” is an ethical dilemma commonly taught in philosophy that challenges participants to explore how far they would […]
Ethics, feminism, and cosmetic surgery
Unaiza Waheed London Illustration by the author In Reshaping the Female Body, Kathy Davis expresses surprise when a feminist friend announces she is considering breast augmentation surgery: “[She] was very critical of the sufferings women have to endure because their bodies do not meet the normative requirements of feminine beauty,” yet she still felt […]
Remembering Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, physician philosopher
Dean Gianakos Lynchburg, Virginia, United States Photograph of the author and Dr. Pellegrino. Courtesy of the author. “Get Wisdom.” – Proverbs 4:5 One day in the spring of 1985, I remember jogging past the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, wondering what went on in there. It was a gorgeous afternoon, dogwoods and […]
Being our best selves: hidden in full view
James Stoller Peter Rea Alan Kolp Cleveland, Ohio, United States Figure 1. Pillars and pediment We live in a paradox framed by a tension between age-old wisdom about excellence and our current state. The paradox is this: our behaviors and our priorities are often at odds with age-old truths about how we can be […]
Eugenics: historic and contemporary
JMS Pearce Hull, England, United Kingdom Moral judgments, changing ethical criteria, and the broader concepts of good and evil are always controversial, and often dangerous. Prominent amongst such judgments are those relating to population control and the wider, ill-defined field of eugenics. Hidden, and often ignored or denied in these conversations, is the underlying […]
Advancing medical knowledge using nonhuman primate research
Zared O. United States Demonstrators at a university protesting for and against animal research. Courtesy of the UCLA Bruin, Alexis Chavarria. One of the most controversial areas in research is the use of nonhuman primates for experiments. Two decades ago, many animal rights activists thought that the use of nonhuman primates would become obsolete […]
Spinoza and medical practice: can the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza enrich the thinking of doctors?
Norelle Lickiss Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Portrait of Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), ca. 1665. Unknown. circa 1665. Gemäldesammlung der Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany. As doctors we seek to assuage the distress of our patients by relieving symptoms, guarding personal dignity, and remaining present even as they are dying. Yet despite these lofty goals, there […]
Moral lessons through pictures
These images, taken from a series called Moral lessons through pictures of good and evil, are meant to communicate morality in traditional Japanese society. Each lesson is made up of a pair of opposing images, one representing the ideal and the other the less than ideal. In one image shown here, a doctor is seen […]
Pharmaceutical marketing in America
Adil Menon Ali Mchaourab Cleveland, Ohio, United States A Pharmacy for Every Need (plate 24). Charles Émile Jacque. 1843. The Art Institute of Chicago. Within the past few decades, there has been a great change in how the pharmaceutical industry markets its products in the United States. Prices of medical drugs have skyrocketed as […]