Tag: Spring 2009
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A visit to New York: A wonderful town
George DuneaChicago, IL Originally published in the British Medical Journal, December 8, 1979 New York remains exciting, vast, wonderfully alive. On Fifth Avenue, elegant ladies promenade in the sun, ride in horse carriages, spend their money at Gucci’s and Tiffany’s, or cast wistful eyes at the window where Empress Josephine’s tiara and the emerald-studded crown…
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I can take care of myself – if you teach me how!
Nancy Burke Rhiannon is five. She has rheumatoid arthritis. Every Monday she gets an injection of an anti-inflammatory drug, and she doesn’t like it! During her Christmas visit to see “Nana” (her nickname for me, her grandmother), there were three Mondays. Katy, Rhiannon’s mother, had requested that “Nana” give her the injections. It’s been a…
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Grumpy doctors and the short story
Tony MiksanekSouthern Illinois, United States This essay is based on a presentation made at the University of Iowa College of Medicine for the conference “The Examined Life: Writing and the Art of Medicine” on April 24, 2008. It isn’t always necessary to take the temperature of fictional physicians to know that they are hot. Three…
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Diagnosing defectives: Disability, gender and eugenics in the United States, 1910–1924
Sara VogtChicago, Illinois, United States Introduction The science of eugenics developed in countries around the world such as Great Britain, the United States, and Germany during the second half of the nineteenth century as a means of fighting emergent public health and social problems like tuberculosis, prostitution, and the so-called degeneration of the race. The…
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The anatomist’s violin
Elizabeth A.J. ScottEdinburgh, Scotland “Its tone was pure. The music enchanting.” So read the review of music played on Dr. Robert Knox’s violin for the visit of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to Edinburgh in 1983. But if the instrument could speak as well as sing, what an amazing tale it would tell. Robert…
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Cannibalism: Just what the doctor ordered
Carole A. Travis Henikoff It may come as a surprise to many that their ancestors practiced cannibalism, especially when some scholars deny cannibalism ever happened. Yet the truth is, we all have cannibals in our closet. Throughout history human beings have consumed human flesh for various reasons. As humans migrated around the globe, they ate…
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Personal magic – creativity and Shamanic ways for wellbeing
Kate HawkesPortland, Oregon, United States The key to healing and wellness is, most agree, a combination of mind-body dynamics and, perhaps spirit. How the three interact and what happens when they do is the subject of studies and surmise, hard fact and anecdote. I have no doubt that when an individual is actively engaged in…
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Has medicine lost the ethics battle?
Patrick D. Guinan This article was first published in the May 1998 issue of Linacre Quarterly. Modern medicine began with the Greeks and has developed over the past 2,500 years. Medical ethics, which was also initiated by the Greeks, and summarized in the Hippocratic Oath, has guided the moral actions of the physician in his…
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A cultural immersion from a nursing perspective
Carolyn Smeltzer Recently I had the opportunity to visit Vietnam with a Loyola University-Chicago group. The purpose of the trip, organized for Loyola faculty and supporters, was to immerse ourselves in the culture, the values, the life, and the healthcare system of the Vietnamese people. We observed and learned much on this international immersion through…
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Simple gestures: a nursing student’s journey through the ICU
Elizabeth CambierChicago, Illinois, United States For those of us who have chosen to pursue careers in the healthcare field, the lessons we learn in life are what make us true professionals. Like the finishing touches that transform a sketch into a work of art, our lives allow us to read between the lines of our…