Abstracts

Health

Search abstracts:

As I was dying: an examination of classic literature and dying

Article Abstract:

A physician with widespread metastatic cancer looks for insights among great writers of poetry, drama, novels, and philosophy on dying and on how a fullfilling life should be lived. Few authors deal directly with insights into death and the experience of dying. Emily Dickinson's poetry, Alcott's Little Women, and Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Illych are exceptions. Faulkner's As I Lay Dying explores the impact on a family. Hemingway writes that every death diminishes all of us and that strength and courage are not exclusive to the young. Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Thoreau's Walden teach that life should be enjoyed because it is brief. Thoreau and Emerson stress finding peace in communing with nature. Aristotle says that happiness comes from living a virtuous life. Descartes and Thomas Paine reason that God must exist, but Paine, at least, rejects the formal church. Of all these and others, Thoreau, Alcott, and Wilder proved the most helpful.

Analysis, Personal narratives, Portrayals, Death, Cancer patients, Death in literature

---

Literature and medicine: an on-line guide

Article Abstract:

The Literature and Medicine Database (http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med) is a valuable online resource of literature relevant to medicine, healing, and illness. The database is designed for medical educators seeking to use literature in their curriculum, such as stories about children with cancer. Use of this material may help physicians-in-training develop the human qualities necessary to communicate with and heal their patients.

Web sites (World Wide Web), Web sites, Literature, Medical literature, Literature and medicine

---

Helping physicians to keep abreast of the medical literature: Medical and Philosophical Commentaries, 1773-1795

Article Abstract:

The history of the Medical and Philosophical Commentaries is described, focusing on the man who created it. Andrew Duncan, Sr., was an Edinburgh doctor who created the first review of medical books and other publications, as well as medical cases and observations.

History, History of medicine

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Breast-feeding in a low-income population: program to increase incidence and duration. Sore Nipples in Breast-feeding Women
• Abstracts: A review and critique of common herbal alternative therapies. Impostor Phenomenon and Queen Bee Syndrome: Threats to Success
• Abstracts: Reducing mother-to-infant transmission of HIV - the door remains open. Development of an in vitro organ culture model to study transmission of HIV-1 in the female genital tract
• Abstracts: Adjustment for case mix in comparisons of cesarean delivery rates: university versus community hospitals in Vermont
• Abstracts: Automobile crash simulation with the first pregnant crash test dummy. A comprehensive program to improve safety for pregnant women and fetuses in motor vehicle crashes: a preliminary report

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.