Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: dementia

  • Snakes and ladders

    Shampa SinhaSydney, Australia “Can you tell me where you are, Mr. Pemberton?” I would ask the middle-aged man every morning as he was recovering from abdominal surgery. “Oh, I’m in New York,” he would answer with unwavering conviction from within the depths of his crumpled bed sheets. “Just sitting here drinking my coffee, until my…

  • Mrs. Collins and the Body Snatchers

    Michael EllmanChicago, Illinois, United States In the morning the Medicine Consultation Service clears patients so they can undergo surgery. Fees from the operating rooms are the cash cow that drives the hospital. We read the electrocardiograms and declare no ischemia, lower the blood sugar with quick acting insulin, treat the hypokalemia with 20 milli-equivalents of…

  • The benefit of literature to a medical student

    Martin ConwillUnited Kingdom In a letter to Benjamin Bailey in 1817, John Keats, who only one year prior was a medical student himself, wrote: “I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of imagination – what the imagination sees as beauty must be truth.”1 This proclamation can be…

  • Rock or bust: Ageing, alcohol, and popular music

    Duncan Wheeler Gemma MatthewmanGreat Britain Don’t you know that I feel alrightDoin’ what I doI ain’t gonna tow the lineNot till’ I turn blueAll I got is one short lifeThat’s what people sayAnd I ain’t gonna waste a secondDoin’ what you say. (Lyrics to Slash featuring Lemmy, “Dr. Alibi”) The lead singer of The Who, Roger…