Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Sorrowing Old Man

  • Suicide in medical school

    Trevor KleeCambridge, MA, United States Depression and suicide are difficult subjects to write about because they are unpleasant and have at least a faint tinge of moral failure. Moreover, the enormity of the feelings involved dwarfs the attempts to portray them in writing. Perhaps the best written description of suicidal ideation comes from David Foster…

  • Medicine and dignity

    Richard Tully Edinburgh   Sorrowing Old Man (At Eternity’s Gate) Vincent van Gogh Oil on canvas Kröller-Müller Museum “The dignity of the human being” is a fairly commonplace phrase in various contexts. It is used often in pleas against, say, the dehumanizing conditions of slum culture, or in protests by Amnesty International against vicious prison…