Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Fall 2017

  • An “enematic” saga

    F. Gonzalez-Crussi Chicago, Illinois, USA   Primitive method of administering an enema, by blowing directly without the use of an injector1 Apothecary holding an enema syringe2 “The Enema”3 Those of us who have managed to survive sixty, seventy, or more years remember that the enema or clyster was, by far, the commonest home remedy in…

  • Behind the green partition

    James Smith United Kingdom   Author’s note Any attempt to truly understand the impact of humanitarian crises on individual lives, particularly when perpetuated over the course of many years, may feel like an ever-receding ambition for those invested in humanitarian response. This is further complicated by sectoral advocacy strategies and programmes that speak of aggregate…

  • Pink Skies

    Gurbaksh Shergill Flint, Michigan, United States   I stared silently out the window and took in my surroundings. The sun was slowly making its way into the sky, stretching as if waking up from a long slumber. The gold and pink tones of the sky were still hiding behind clouds, not quite ready to come…

  • Religio Medici

    Stefan K. G. Grebe Rochester, Minnesota, United States   Mama, take this badge off of me / I can’t use it anymore. / It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see / I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door  “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Bob Dylan   The main foyer of the Gonda building, Mayo Clinic by Stefan Grebe…

  • The Changi diary and paintings: the partnership of a doctor and an artist

    Robert Craig Brisbane, Queensland, Australia   Malnutrition, Pellagra (left), Tropical Ulcersa, Avitaminosis (middle), Glossitis, and Solar Dermatosis (right) in Australian prisoners of war.  Three paintings and a diary in a handwritten exercise book are in the collection of the Marks Hirschfeld Medical Museum in Brisbane, Australia. They represent an episode of extraordinary courage, survival, cooperation, and…

  • Body matters

    Grace Lucas Cambridge, UK   Thinking from the ground up I had this friend once. She was around for a long time – years.  I do not remember the first time I met her, but suddenly she was there, omnipresent. She was thrilling and intoxicating to be with, and made me feel high, light, and…

  • Fifty years on an Englishman recalls Cook County Hospital

    Simon CohenLondon In 1968 I was a senior registrar at a London teaching hospital. My ambition was to become a staff member at a major London institution and at that time one of the requirements was a qualification known as the BTA (Been to America). My chief, probably correctly, recognized that I was not much…

  • Anosognosia

    Michael Ellman  Chicago, IL, United States   South Pacific, 1950. Joseph Cable (William Tabbert) watches as Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall, top) and Liat (Betta St. John) perform the song “Happy Talk” “Joseph Cable, at your service! U.S. Marines, World War Two, retired—at ease, Doctor. Let’s be casual, shall we?” My patient is tall and ramrod…

  • Groote Schuur Hospital, location, lineage and legacy

    Annabelle S. Slingerland Leiden, the Netherlands   Façade of Groote Schuur Hospital Beginnings The Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa’s Cape Town sits on a site first discovered in 1488 by the Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias. He called the peninsula Cabo Tormentosa (Cape of Storms), a good description of a site where the notorious South-Easter wind…

  • The Joslin Diabetes Center

    Annabelle S. Slingerland Leiden, the Netherlands Matthew Brown Boston, Massachusetts, United States   Bay State Road- cca. 1920 Of the many hospitals that have risen to fame because of the accomplishments of their staff, the Joslin Diabetes Center is one of the most iconic. Founded at a time when diabetes was largely untreatable and often…