Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Spring 2010

  • Evolution from recapitulation theory to Neural Darwinism

    JMS Pearce London, United Kingdom Early evolutionary theorists noted that the evolution of the brain, its structural organization, and microscopic structure appeared to develop concurrently with human anatomy through the process of evolution. This understanding of the evolution of the brain was heavily influenced by both the theories of phylogeny, which discusses this evolutionary lineage…

  • One for science: nothing more, nothing less

    Erin Duralde Palo Alto, California, USA   On an ordinary day, just a routine checkup, Ruth’s left breast spoke up for the first time. Under the stiff press of the mammography machine, after 83 years of content silence, it cleared its throat and announced that today was the first day of its starring role in…

  • You say you want a revolution?

    Y Pritham Raj Portland, Oregon, United States   “It must be a virus,” I whispered to myself noticing that Miss C, my medical assistant, was not her usual, efficient self today. She was painfully slow – dragging, in fact – while trying to gather the data I so desperately needed to help the patients waiting…

  • Confidentiality and privacy in public hospitals

    David O. Irabor Ibadan, Nigeria   In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, healthcare professionals are bound by ethical codes not to disclose information given to them by their patients. Yet despite the best of efforts, neither confidentiality nor privacy can always be easily guaranteed, as exemplified by a look at problems encountered at a…

  • God’s menu

    Florence Gelo Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   “You act like you are waiting to die!” Sophie explains that this accusation comes in many forms from friends and members of her church. “Why don’t you go to the health spa? Give up those medications. What you need are good, nutritious foods, vitamins, and minerals. There is a…

  • Death, a part of life

    Carole A. Travis-Henikoff Chicago, Illinois, United States   The subject of death is by its very nature a personal thing. Woody Allen said he didn’t mind dying; he just didn’t want to be there when it happened. Most of us feel the same way. Death frightens us in proportion to our systems of belief formed…

  • When the doctor is the patient

    Saleh AldasouqiEast Lansing, Michigan, United States I looked at my fingers, tender after a few glucose finger sticks to the middle and ring fingers of both hands, wondering which fingers to use the next day. No matter how user-friendly blood glucose testing devices have become, finger pricking remains a painful experience that patients with diabetes…

  • The pastor’s son

    Danielle OfriNew York City, New York, United States From Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients, Copyright © 2010 Danielle Ofri. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press, Boston. There was a sharp rap at the apartment door. When Samuel Chuks Nwanko opened it, he saw a young man standing in the hallway wearing a stained denim…

  • Kindred paradigms: community arts and health advocacy in HIV/AIDS activism

    Niyi AwofesoAnu RammohanAustralia, Perth Community arts involve an understanding of communities and how art can function as an agent of social change. Community artists employ a broad range of genres and disciplines to reach a wide audience. Defined broadly as the work of communities of people committed to improving their individual and collective circumstances through…

  • Campaigning for Craig: The healing power of a legacy T-shirt

    Nancy GershmanChicago, Illinois, United States Sometimes the elephant in the room is a painful irony, like the story of Craig, a 25-year-old flying instructor who died in his aircraft. As parents we think, “Oh, if only we’d talked him out of flying lessons!” But as bereavement professionals, we see both sides: a young adult doing…