Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: United States

  • W.W. Keen: Physician to the presidents

    Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States William Williams Keen served in the American Civil War and was present at the first and second Battle of Bull Run and Antietam.1 His battlefield experience led him to publish in 1864 “Gunshot Wounds and other Injuries of the Nerves and Reflex Paralysis.” He would become one of the…

  • Memories of a West Virginia coal camp

    Calvin KuninColumbus, Ohio, United States This is a brief account of my experience as a physician at a coal mining camp in rural West Virginia. It is based on my memory of events that took place almost seventy years ago but remain vivid in my mind. The adventure began the day I graduated from medical…

  • Research opportunities for medical students and residents

    Edward TaborWashington, DC, United States Medical residents who engage in scientific research obtain numerous advantages that may enhance their careers. They acquire analytical skills, refine their critical thinking, and may develop better future training opportunities. Unfortunately, scientific research is often not part of their training, leading to the suggestion that this should change and that…

  • Normal head shape and size

    Ateret HaselkornBay Area, California, United States My son is flying a rainbowKite. The streamers frameThe beach like a wedding canopy.He runs.His three-year old legsDon’t know the meaning of “stroll.” I recollect, years ago, the prenatal ultrasound.The border of his skull,The tiniest of incubators,Stamped “HEAD,” measured,Appraised as normal. From where did this all emerge:A love of…

  • When needs trumped faith and dogma: Early twentieth century Los Angeles women’s social conscience

    Saty Satya-MurtiSanta Maria, California, United StatesMichael EnghLos Angeles, California, United States In early twentieth century Los Angeles, efforts to improve social conditions and meet the needs of the underserved and deprived often sprang from faith-based social organizations. Two notable women pioneers, Mary Julia Workman (1871-1964) and Katherine B. Higgins (1880-1967), strove to elevate the social…

  • The Call of the Wild and COVID-19

    Liam ButchartStony Brook, New York, United StatesSamantha RizzoWashington DC, United States The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought a terrible toll upon all of us and has brought the medical system—and the providers who inhabit it—to its knees. There is a tradition in medicine, following Sir William Osler’s “Aequinimitas,” of compassionate detachment: as physicians or trainees, we…

  • The wonderful world of vaccines

    Jayant RadhakrishnanChicago, Illinois, United States Epidemics and pandemics became an issue about 10,000 years ago when hunters and gatherers became farmers and began to live in communities. Smallpox was one of the first lethal infections that spread widely. Its stigmata are seen in Egyptian mummies dating to 1570-1085 BCE. By 1500 CE, in China, India,…

  • Risking it all to save strangers—Remembering Gisella Perl

    Jacquline MusgravePeoria, Arizona, United States Her hands were cracked and covered in mud and dirt as she delivered the baby, broke its little neck, closed its eyes, and buried it in a hole outside. No one would know about this baby, or the others who would meet the same fate. She did it to save…

  • Moral judgment in medicine: “Sensibility of heart”

    Jack CoulehanStony Brook, New York, United States I want to reflect on the role of emotions, or “sensibility of heart,” in medical judgment. I take the term “judgment,” in general, to refer to the human capacity of assessing, analyzing, and reaching a conclusion with regard to any point or course of action. Any specific conclusion…

  • The patient who provided his own placebo and fully recovered

    Lawrence ClimoLincoln, Massachusetts, United States My elderly patient began his treatment by complaining about how his mother had behaved towards him in his boyhood. She had hurt him with her name-calling and humiliating insults, and these had apparently resulted in a lifetime of a negativism towards her. He wanted my help to end that negativity.…