The history of Western medicine chronicles a tension between ideologies of patient care—the holistic Hippocratic view and the specialization view, with a depersonalization of the patient that coincides with the rise of pathologic anatomy in the early modern era.
Women who are pregnant might not treat their mental illnesses because they overestimate risks of medication and underestimate risks of leaving their illness untreated.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(6):614-623. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.6.stas1-1606.
John is one patient-sitter whose cancer and portraiture experiences illuminate what it means to witness, to express regard for another’s difficult health and health care experiences.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(6):E470-475. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.470.
Lisa is one patient-sitter who took comfort in the permanence of portraiture amidst the uncertainties of tongue cancer. Her experience offers an abundance of lessons for art and healing.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(6):E482-487. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.482.
This first-person narrative illuminates how the author—a nurse, artist, and dancer—uses the arts and movement to help patients and clinicians process personal loss individually and collectively in the hospital setting.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(7):E681-684. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.681.