Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Review of Health Humanities in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Handbook to the Heart of Medicine

  • Announcing the Nobel Prize

    The Nobel Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the world, recognizes outstanding contributions to the welfare of humanity. It was established by the will of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, scientist, businessman, and author. Born in 1833 in Stockholm, Nobel held over 350… Read more

  • Joseph Conrad and medicine

    Joseph Conrad wrote some of the most renowned novels of the twentieth century. Born in Poland in 1857, he entered the French marine service in 1874, and in 1878 began to work on English ships, eventually commanding his own ship and traveling to distant and… Read more

  • The Truman delusion: All the world’s a stage

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players”– William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7“You know you’ve made it when you have a disease named after you.”– Andrew Niccol, writer of The Truman… Read more

  • A Hispanic amulet against disease in infants

    Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States In my pediatric residency at a New York City hospital many years ago, I noticed that half of my Hispanic infant patients, as well as some toddlers, wore a small black and red amulet that their parents hoped would protect… Read more

  • Blaming Tuskegee for present ills

    Adil MenonChicago, Illinois, United States The USPHS Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male is United States medical history’s most tragic example of the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. In the early 20th century, the Public Health Service and the… Read more

  • Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers, anatomist and reconstructive surgeon

    Denonvilliers’ fascia consists of several layers of tissue that separate the prostate and seminal vesicles from the rectum. These layers are believed to prevent the spread of cancer from the rectum to the prostate. Their embryological origin and composition have long been of interest and… Read more

  • Martyrs and saints in art, history, and medicine

    The concept of martyrdom has deep roots in religious traditions. Christian martyrs suffered and died for their faith, such as Saint Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr, as well as St. Sebastian pierced with arrows and St. Joan of Arc burned at the stake.… Read more

  • The death of Pierleone da Spoletto

    The Umbrian Renaissance physician Pierleone da Spoleto (c. 1445–1492) was a polymath, “one who has studied much” and many different subjects.1,2 Sometimes also called Pier Leoni, he descended from an aristocratic family in Spoleto and is believed to have studied in Rome and obtained degrees… Read more

  • France’s most notorious serial killer

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “This Frenchman comes to the assistance of foreign Jews he does not even know.”– Eryane Kahan, a Romanian Jew living in Paris, at Petiot’s trial “He lured the desperate, the frightened…to his lair…and murdered them.”– Pierre Véron, a plaintiff’s attorney at Petiot’s… Read more

  • Beyond the scope

    Nathan CannonHershey, Pennsylvania, United States Hushed hum of voices. Open, dimly lit room. Slit lamps gliding, knobs turning, lenses gently flashing. Clinical officers hard at work, diagnosing, assessing, treating. “Next!” I am seated beside the attending, a retina specialist. Together, we have been seeing his… Read more

  • Opium and its derivatives

    Humans have taken psychotropic drugs since time immemorial, for pleasure and for pain. Opium was used by the Sumerians during the Neolithic era and mentioned in the Egyptian Papyrus Ebers and in ancient Chinese manuscripts. It was prescribed by the Greek and Roman physicians, by… Read more

  • An ode to the cloaca

    Jayant RadhakrishnanDarien, Illinois, United StatesAnant Radhakrishnan Amarillo, Texas, United States The term cloaca was first used around 600 BC by the Romans who named their main drainage channel the “Cloaca Maxima” or the Greatest Sewer. It drained the local marshes and all water and effluent from… Read more