Humane Health Care International articles from March 1997

Humane Health Care International archives from March 1997

Unintended consequences.
March 22, 1997... Technology has perverse consequences. We invest large sums in it, we install it and then depend on it to make our lives better. However, in Edward Tenner's words, "things bite back and exact revenge on us in unexpected ways." His book Why...

Fixing broken windows.
March 22, 1997... Caregivers and concerned citizens searching for ways to maintain or mend the fabric of community upon which all effective health care depends can take hope from a recent book Fixing Broken Windows by George Kelling of Harvard's Kennedy School....

Pastoral responses to infertility.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Lillian Perigoe, Lawrence Park Community Church, The United Church of Canada, 2180 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3K7, Canada. The paper by Dr. Walter W. Benjamin, "Infertility: Origin of Judgment...

Can doctors serve as double agents?
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Bernard M. Dickens, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Medicine and Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5, Canada. In their paper on scarce resource allocation decisions,...

Healing stories.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: James R. Wilkes, Centennary Health Centre, The Shonikel Clinic, 2877A Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1E 4C1, Canada. We all tell stories, it is how we make sense of things. Stories are woven...

Health against wealth.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Jane Fulton, The Health Group, R.R. # 1 Zion Line, Cobden, Ontario K0J 1K0, Canada. For years, the North American media has been declaring that a health-care crisis is at hand. This media attention and...

Ravings of a madman.
March 22, 1997... Drifting in a world Of paranoia and delusion Oh what is my call. A world so full Of devastation and destruction Unjust Belligerent To the brotherhood Of man. A mindless public Struggling And...

Managing care the Canadian way.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Pat Armstrong, Director, School of Canadian Studies, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada For over 30 years, Canada has had a system for managing care that usually...

Silicone breast "disease": decision before evidence?
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Ross Upshur, Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L4, Canada. The 1996 Shattuck Lecture, "Evaluating the health risks of breast implants: the...

Euthanasia in the media: journalists' values, media ethics and "public square" messages.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Margaret A. Somerville, McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, 3690 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9, Canada. The euthanasia debate, aspects of which I have addressed previously in the pages...

Scarce resource allocation decisions: issues of physician conflict and liability.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: David C. Mendelssohn, 200 Elizabeth Street, 13 Eaton 239, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C4, Canada. Physicians face conflicting priorities working in the complex Canadian health-care system of the 1990s. Their...

Infertility: origin of judgment and sources of healing.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Walter W. Benjamin, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104-1284, U.S.A. "I have had four miscarriages. My husband and I were devastated by each one." The body of the...

Enhancing patient participation in team decision making.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests to: Beverley J. Antle, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada Meaningful communication with patients about their medical conditions and the...

Some advice for the millennial physician.
March 22, 1997... * This paper is based on a commencement address delivered to the graduating class of the Faculty of Medicine, The University of Toronto, on June 21, 1996, in Toronto, Canada. Correspondence and reprint requests: Alvin Newman, Mount Sinai...

Health-care student's ten commandments for survival.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Walter W. Benjamin, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104-1284, U.S.A. Many have seen the ubiquitous "survival" T-shirts: "I survived spring break, Daytona Beach, Florida."...

What you really need to know about cancer: a comprehensive guide for patients and their families.
March 22, 1997... What You Really Need to Know About Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide for Patients and Their Families Robert Buekman Key Porter Books, Toronto, ON, 1995; 368pp; $32.95; ISBN 1-55013-692-5 Dr. Robert Buckman, a medical oncologist based...

Better world for our children: rebuilding american family values.
March 22, 1997... A Better World For Our Children: Rebuilding American Family Values Dr. Benjamin M. Spoek National Press Books, Bethesda, MD, 1994; 224pp; $22.95 ISBN: 1882605-12-8 1996 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Spock's...

Physician-assisted suicide: a Chaplain's perspective.
March 22, 1997... Correspondence and reprint requests: Sharon Grant, Chaplain in Oncology, Pastoral Services, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Whether she wishes it or not, a hospital chaplain working with terminally ill patients...