Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Summer 2009

  • After inspection – Inheritance – Summation

    Shirley Stephenson After inspectionPalpation, tableto skin. The tumblehomeribcage seeking amen. Three timeslight, organs figurean aquarium. Muzzled one handsensing the otheractive to pressure, volar surface.Turgor discriminatesseaworthiness. Percussion borderstone. Clapotiscaravans. Density, an oarlock murmur,proper blows delivered.Tympany snared in underlyingglaciers. Judgmentwithin the hull resonates passage.What variation,asks the bell. Oscillation and viceversa amplifyorigins, sequelae. Contour of eartuned to each…

  • The psychiatrist in literature

    Solomon Posen Good girls didn’t go to psychiatrists. Psychiatrists were people who testified in court on behalf of murderers or who nannied film stars. They were themselves charlatans, ratbags, sex-obsessed, evil and/or mad (Coombs 1990: 26). Within three years of graduation some 5% of doctors emerging from British medical schools elect to become psychiatrists and…

  • Marc Chagall brings a message of hope and faith to the disabled

    Rachel C. BakerChicago, Illinois, USA Rehabilitating the disabled requires not only physicians, nurses, therapists, psychologists, social workers, and speech pathologists, but also aesthetically appealing surroundings. According to visionary Henry B. Betts, MD, former President of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), We do this by surrounding each disabled person with people and an environment that…

  • Blades of the mill: A man battling with cancer

    Barb Schwarz Karst Robert Schwarz Cancer THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT “The doctor said it might be lymphoma,” I told his nurse after he had left the room and my temperature had gone from normal happy being to the sweat of a man facing a firing squad in seconds.“So,” she casually said.“So!” I said, “People die…

  • Artist statement – “Blades of the mill: A man battling with cancer” by Barb Schwarz Karst

    Barb Schwarz Karst “Blades of the Mill” is a series of eighteen mixed media paintings representing my brother Bob, four months into his eight-month treatment for cancer. Each of the eighteen paintings contains an image of Bob and a line of poetry that signifies a major turning point in his life. When combining all eighteen…

  • Anatomical ghosts in The Merchant of Venice

    Mauro Spicci Antonio and the dangers of self-diagnosis In the last few years the steadily growing number of attempts to read Shakespeare’s plays from a medical perspective has been justified by the idea that they are not simply the immortal fruits of a genius, but also documents reflecting the historical, cultural, and social background of…