Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Summer 2020

  • The bedside manners of Ingmar Bergman’s celluloid physicians

    Eelco WijdicksRochester, Minnesota, United States The great humanitarian filmmaker and auteur Ingmar Bergman used physicians in his films much more frequently than his peers. Bergman’s full filmography, including two films (Thirst and Brink of Life) directed by but not written by Bergman, features sixteen physicians in thirteen films. Excluding the family doctor in Fanny and…

  • Asclepius at Epidaurus

    L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States   An Athenian seeking a cure for his afflictions in the fourth century BC had the option of visiting several competing sanctuaries, at Delphi, Olympia, or Epidaurus. To reach Epidaurus, the Athenian would bypass Megara and Corinth, then turn south and find himself at the shrine…

  • Charles Richard Box: physician, pathologist, and infectious disease pioneer

    Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, UK   Charles Richard Box by Lafayette. Half-plate nitrate negative. 30 August 1928. NPG x42689. Reproduced with Permission from National Portrait Gallery, London. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The name Charles Richard Box is perhaps not as well-known as some of the medical contemporaries of his time. He had a brilliant career in…

  • Life and death of a dog

    Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe  Dundee, Scotland   Photograph of Petra, courtesy of the author.   We learn from the life and death of family pets, a microcosm of our own existence. We nurtured Petra, a guide-dog puppy, in our family home for more than a year, after which we handed her over for her formal training. She was…

  • Neville Samuel Finzi—British radiotherapy pioneer

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, UK Neville Samuel Finzi was born on June 25, 1881.1 He was the son of Gerald Finzi’s uncle, Leon, who was also a doctor. Gerald Finzi was a British composer famous for his song cycles, choral music, and reflective instrumental and orchestral works including a violin and cello concerto. Neville attended University…

  • Learning about children

    Canon Brodar Miami, Florida, United States   The Infant Hercules, ca. 1785–89. Sir Joshua Reynolds, British. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Surdna Fund. I began my first clinical rotation excited but fearful. Medical students are taught about pediatric pathology and developmental milestones, but nothing about working with children and their families. I had heard…

  • Sanctuary

    Bruce Granquist Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States   In 2012 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I thought this meant that my career as a book illustrator and calligrapher was over. But after making some experiments I realized that the tremor in my right hand allowed me to make much more expressive calligraphic lines than I…

  • Doctor Schiller

    Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Portrait of Friedrich Schiller by Gerhard von Kügelgen. Goethe-Museum. Public Domain.   Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg, Germany. His father, Johann Caspar Schiller, was a regimental surgeon in the service of Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. Schiller (1759–1805) is…

  • The Metropolitan Hospital of London

    Metropolitan Free Hospital. Photo by Ethan Doyle White. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0 Metropolitan Hospital, Kingsland Road. Photo by Dr Neil Clifton. Via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.0.   The Metropolitan Hospital was founded in 1836 to provide medical care to the indigent of London’s East End, with two physicians and three surgeons offering their services…

  • Friedrich Nietzsche—much afflicted philosopher

    Friedrich Nietzsche by Edvard Munch. 1906. Thielska Gallerie, Sweden. Via Wikimedia. Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most important philosophers of the nineteenth century. Though often misinterpreted, his influence has been enormous. Like his compatriot Schopenhauer, he questioned the comfortable beliefs of the conservative bourgeoisie of his time. His writings have fascinated generations of readers,…