Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Spring 2016

  • Heartache and complicated grief

    Laurie Elise GordonNew York, New York, United States “To whom shall I tell this heartache?” – Old Russian song Medicine is haunted by grief. In tense silences we may sense the specter. Grieving is a normal developmental process, but in some it gets interrupted. A grieving patient calls upon the physician’s most highly attuned empathy.…

  • Medicine and dignity

    Richard TullyEdinburgh “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 environments. It was bandied about a good deal when ‘spare part’ surgery was first hitting the…

  • Let us all be well

    Michael KonikLos Angeles, California, USA Diseases work insidiously, hiding out in hard-to-see places. A badly compromised body often looks normal on the outside, especially if the illness is concentrated in one area. Some systems and organs continue to function perfectly while another organ or system fails. We don’t know disease is lurking in our genes…

  • Medical autonomy and vaccines: A Kantian Imperative

    Justin Le BlancPhiladelphia, United States In The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kant seeks to establish a concept of duty based solely on reason. He believed that one must not just act in “accordance with duty . . .” but also for “duty’s sake.”1 He argues that reason provides the foundation upon which…

  • A coffee many years later

    Drita PuharićMakarska, Croatia I’m sitting in a small cafe bar waiting for my friend Marija whom I haven’t seen since high school. She left with her husband for Canada after the war. How long had it been since we’d seen each other? It seems like an eternity… I can’t wait to see her. I close…

  • The boy with two dads

    David ThoeleChicago, Illinois, United States The first time I met Martin in my clinic, the 7-year-old seemed friendly, but shy.  He was a bit chubby, with dark, short-cropped hair, rounded fingernails, and blue-tinged skin. He was short for his age, with features of Down syndrome, which his mother confirmed. Since half of people with Down…

  • Mist walkers

    Ethan SellersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Seattle still slumbers under a blanket of mist at four in the morning, a suspension of droplets that seems to swallow sound, so I struggle to hear even my own footfalls during my morning run to work on the inpatient service. Though the run clears my mind and dusts away…

  • Elephant hide

    Ethan SellersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States “Let me tell you about the summer the circus came to town.” Mr. Stanton’s weathered face manages to wrinkle further as it breaks into an easy smile. I’m reminded of an old map folding along well-worn creases. I know I’m grinning back, a habit when talking with patients, but never…

  • Why do Nigerians die?

    Joseph HundeyinLagos, Nigeria A mere glance at the question “Why do Nigerians die?” would lead one to think it is one of the simplest questions ever asked. But on a closer look, one would discover that the question is indeed a deep one with unending answers. It is natural for people to die. Even in…

  • Is there a united Hippocratic school?

    Adil MenonChicago, Illinois, United States Hippocrates once asserted that while “many admire, few know,” a truth that would come to cast a long shadow over his own legacy. Eager to connect themselves to a famous name, if not to the practices or ideology he espoused, a multitude of schools across the ancient Greek world have hailed…