Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: bodily autonomy

  • Going boldly into the night: a reflection on “death with dignity”

    Lenore M. Montanaro North Kingstown, Rhode Island    Anatomy of the Heart by Enrique Simonet, 1890, The Prado Museum, Madrid Doctors should minimize one’s suffering at death and uphold the patient’s right to bodily integrity and self-determination. If someone with decisional capacity is diagnosed with a terminal illness such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”),…

  • Breathless: philosophical lessons from respiratory illness

    Havi Carel United Kingdom   It is 12:28. I have just parked my car in a lucky empty space just outside my office. I have a meeting at 12:30. I am texting with one hand and feeling for my inhaler in my coat pocket with the other. I pull the inhaler out, place it in…