Medical Humanities Exam II UPDATED
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Note opening quote! CH.14 - CORRECT ANSWER · "The Relief of suffering is the
fundamental goal of medicine"
The social constructionist approach versus the essentialist approach to describe the purposes
of medicine: Know the definition, description and features of each - CORRECT
ANSWER · Social constructionist approach
o takes into account the diverse social factors and cultural values that shape healing practices
o medicines ends and purposes are externally determined and thus culturally variable
· Essentialism
o The goals of medicine are derived internally from values inherent in the practice of
medicine
o Considers such values as preventing and curing disease, relieving pain, mitigating suffering
to be invariant or unchanging
Hastings Center: purpose and conclusion of their report, bottom of page 226
Four broad notions to describe the goals of modern medicine concluded by the Hastings
report. What are these four "guideposts"? - CORRECT ANSWER · "A medicine that
has no inner direction or core values will be too easily victimized and misused by society if it
lacks the resources to resist encroachment upon it... yet it is also naïve to think that medical
values can remain uninfluenced by society. Since doctors, health care personnel, and patients
will be part of society, it will never be possible to find a sharp line between the institution of
medicine and other social institutions."
· Four broad notions "guideposts"
o 1. Disease prevention and health maintenance and promotion
o 2. Relief of pain and mitigation of suffering caused by disease or injury
o 3. Care and cure of those with an ailment and care for those who cannot be cured
o 4. Avoidance of premature death and pursuit of a peaceful death
Principles of Biomedical Ethics written by Beauchamp & Childress advocating an approach
to moral reasoning grounded in four principles. What are these four principles? Know the
,definition of each and be able to recognize these principles in a case study. THIS IS A VERY
IMPORTANT BOOK AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THE AUTHORS AND THESE FOUR
PRINCIPLES. - CORRECT ANSWER · Four principles/Definitions
o Autonomy - the freedom to decide for oneself what course of action is most consistent with
ones values and beliefs
o Nonmaleficence - an obligation to refrain from causing harm
o Beneficence - forms of action intended to benefit others
o Justice - fair and equitable treatment in light of what is due
· Written in 1979 by Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress
o Advocated an approach to moral reasoning
What does Callahan say on p 232 about the relationship of death to the self, and about
rethinking the image of ourselves as sovereign? - CORRECT ANSWER · Instead of
fighting death on every front, he asks, might it be possible to pick our battles with a view not
to defeating death but to shaping it to our own ends
· "The relationship of death to the self, to the way we think about our individual fate, is the
most central issue."
· "an image of the self that is more flexible, less manipulative, more interdependent with
others, more open to risk, a self-appropriate to a peaceful death."
Know which country the hospice movement originated in, when did the movement start in
the US? - CORRECT ANSWER · Originated in Britain, started in America in the mid
1970's, gained momentum from 1982 when hospice services became an entitlement under
medicare and the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations initiated
hospice accreditation
Note mention of Quinlan case, again. New interest in palliative care started in the US when,
and when was the subspecialty of palliative care created? - CORRECT ANSWER ·
1990's witnessed a new professional interest in palliative care whose purpose is that of
providing effective control of symptoms, especially pain management
· 1997 institute of medicine published a report calling for the creation of a new subspecialty
of palliative medicine
o American board of medical specialties approved the creation of hospice and palliative care
as a subspecialty in 2006 and was approved in 2008 by accreditation council for graduate
medical education
,raison d'etre - CORRECT ANSWER reason or justification for existing
therapeutic modesty - CORRECT ANSWER · preoccupation with medically managing
the human body is of relatively recent origin. "Indeed, aside from vaccines and a few
antibiotics and hormones to control infections and metabolic derangements like high blood
sugar, the idea that anyone could control desperate medical conditions has only arisen since
World War II .... When therapeutic modesty gave way to widespread new enthusiasm for
technologies of bodily control that began with the mid-1960s and took off in the 1970s, the
older way did not linger for long".
Know WHO definition of health and its criticisms - CORRECT ANSWER · Health is a
state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.
· Most critics consider it inflated and unrealistic
o Not only does the WHO's definition of health create an impossible ideal, they argue, but it
also creates disappointment among physicians and patients. There is simply no way to
measure "a state of complete ... well-being" or to know when it has been achieved. In
addition, the WHO definition also supports the modern Western view that health is the
highest good - a troubling implication that the philosopher Daniel Callahan (1930-) has nicely
captured with the phrase "the tyranny of survival."
Examples of medicalization in this chapter - CORRECT ANSWER alcoholism,
homosexuality, drug addiction, menopause, or even aging
Holistic Concepts of Health and Healing - CORRECT ANSWER Health: means
wholeness
To heal: to make whole
Greek: hygeia, sense of living well and caring rightly for one's body
· health is more than the absence of pathology or disease; that it involves aspects of meaning
and purpose that are essential to human flourishing
, The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine article by Eric Cassell defines healing as
what? - CORRECT ANSWER · defines healing as the restoration of wholeness in a
patient whose identity and social life have become fragmented.
THREE FALSE GOALS OF MEDICINE...what are they? - CORRECT ANSWER ·
Leon Kass attributes
o false goal of happiness to the open-ended character of some contemporary notions of
mental health, which consider frustration, anxiety, or unsatisfied desires to be marks of ill
health rather than part of the human condition.
o false goal is "social adjustment" - creating a "healthy" society devoid of crime, poverty, or
laziness - that in Kass's view lies outside the purview of doctors. Responsibility for creating a
"healthy society" and healthy lifestyles, he argues, rests with policymakers, public health
professionals, parents, clergy, teachers, and judges.
o Finally, avoid the goal of prolonging life indefinitely or escaping death altogether. To be
alive and healthy are not the same. We are born with two inescapable "diseases" - aging and
mortality - and, for Kass, medicine should be concerned with reconciling itself to these
conditions rather than transcending them.
Public health messaging with a history of being value laden - CORRECT ANSWER ·
Jonathan Metzl writes, "is a term replete with value judgments, hierarchies, and blind
assumptions that speak as much about power and privilege as they do about well-being."16
When we see someone smoking a cigarette and remark, "smoking is bad for your health,"
what do we really mean? Often, what we really mean is "you are a bad person because you
smoke." Likewise, the comment "Obesity is bad for your health" may be less about a medical
problem than about the implicit assumption that the person is lazy or weak of will. These
values are easily wrapped into public health advertisements.
Media skewing definition of health when equating health with appearance and performance -
CORRECT ANSWER · Magazines such as Health, Men's Health, Women's Health,
Cosmopolitan, and many others all share the assumption that health is intimately tied to a
person's appearance and their sexual and athletic performance. They tout the importance of
proper body image under the label of a "healthy" lifestyle: nice skin, toned abs, bulging
biceps, even plastic surgery. In presenting these physical practices as part of a healthy
lifestyle (rather than as the product of cultural narcissism) these and other "health" magazines
actually construct certain bodies as desirable and others as unwanted or repulsive.
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Note opening quote! CH.14 - CORRECT ANSWER · "The Relief of suffering is the
fundamental goal of medicine"
The social constructionist approach versus the essentialist approach to describe the purposes
of medicine: Know the definition, description and features of each - CORRECT
ANSWER · Social constructionist approach
o takes into account the diverse social factors and cultural values that shape healing practices
o medicines ends and purposes are externally determined and thus culturally variable
· Essentialism
o The goals of medicine are derived internally from values inherent in the practice of
medicine
o Considers such values as preventing and curing disease, relieving pain, mitigating suffering
to be invariant or unchanging
Hastings Center: purpose and conclusion of their report, bottom of page 226
Four broad notions to describe the goals of modern medicine concluded by the Hastings
report. What are these four "guideposts"? - CORRECT ANSWER · "A medicine that
has no inner direction or core values will be too easily victimized and misused by society if it
lacks the resources to resist encroachment upon it... yet it is also naïve to think that medical
values can remain uninfluenced by society. Since doctors, health care personnel, and patients
will be part of society, it will never be possible to find a sharp line between the institution of
medicine and other social institutions."
· Four broad notions "guideposts"
o 1. Disease prevention and health maintenance and promotion
o 2. Relief of pain and mitigation of suffering caused by disease or injury
o 3. Care and cure of those with an ailment and care for those who cannot be cured
o 4. Avoidance of premature death and pursuit of a peaceful death
Principles of Biomedical Ethics written by Beauchamp & Childress advocating an approach
to moral reasoning grounded in four principles. What are these four principles? Know the
,definition of each and be able to recognize these principles in a case study. THIS IS A VERY
IMPORTANT BOOK AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THE AUTHORS AND THESE FOUR
PRINCIPLES. - CORRECT ANSWER · Four principles/Definitions
o Autonomy - the freedom to decide for oneself what course of action is most consistent with
ones values and beliefs
o Nonmaleficence - an obligation to refrain from causing harm
o Beneficence - forms of action intended to benefit others
o Justice - fair and equitable treatment in light of what is due
· Written in 1979 by Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress
o Advocated an approach to moral reasoning
What does Callahan say on p 232 about the relationship of death to the self, and about
rethinking the image of ourselves as sovereign? - CORRECT ANSWER · Instead of
fighting death on every front, he asks, might it be possible to pick our battles with a view not
to defeating death but to shaping it to our own ends
· "The relationship of death to the self, to the way we think about our individual fate, is the
most central issue."
· "an image of the self that is more flexible, less manipulative, more interdependent with
others, more open to risk, a self-appropriate to a peaceful death."
Know which country the hospice movement originated in, when did the movement start in
the US? - CORRECT ANSWER · Originated in Britain, started in America in the mid
1970's, gained momentum from 1982 when hospice services became an entitlement under
medicare and the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations initiated
hospice accreditation
Note mention of Quinlan case, again. New interest in palliative care started in the US when,
and when was the subspecialty of palliative care created? - CORRECT ANSWER ·
1990's witnessed a new professional interest in palliative care whose purpose is that of
providing effective control of symptoms, especially pain management
· 1997 institute of medicine published a report calling for the creation of a new subspecialty
of palliative medicine
o American board of medical specialties approved the creation of hospice and palliative care
as a subspecialty in 2006 and was approved in 2008 by accreditation council for graduate
medical education
,raison d'etre - CORRECT ANSWER reason or justification for existing
therapeutic modesty - CORRECT ANSWER · preoccupation with medically managing
the human body is of relatively recent origin. "Indeed, aside from vaccines and a few
antibiotics and hormones to control infections and metabolic derangements like high blood
sugar, the idea that anyone could control desperate medical conditions has only arisen since
World War II .... When therapeutic modesty gave way to widespread new enthusiasm for
technologies of bodily control that began with the mid-1960s and took off in the 1970s, the
older way did not linger for long".
Know WHO definition of health and its criticisms - CORRECT ANSWER · Health is a
state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.
· Most critics consider it inflated and unrealistic
o Not only does the WHO's definition of health create an impossible ideal, they argue, but it
also creates disappointment among physicians and patients. There is simply no way to
measure "a state of complete ... well-being" or to know when it has been achieved. In
addition, the WHO definition also supports the modern Western view that health is the
highest good - a troubling implication that the philosopher Daniel Callahan (1930-) has nicely
captured with the phrase "the tyranny of survival."
Examples of medicalization in this chapter - CORRECT ANSWER alcoholism,
homosexuality, drug addiction, menopause, or even aging
Holistic Concepts of Health and Healing - CORRECT ANSWER Health: means
wholeness
To heal: to make whole
Greek: hygeia, sense of living well and caring rightly for one's body
· health is more than the absence of pathology or disease; that it involves aspects of meaning
and purpose that are essential to human flourishing
, The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine article by Eric Cassell defines healing as
what? - CORRECT ANSWER · defines healing as the restoration of wholeness in a
patient whose identity and social life have become fragmented.
THREE FALSE GOALS OF MEDICINE...what are they? - CORRECT ANSWER ·
Leon Kass attributes
o false goal of happiness to the open-ended character of some contemporary notions of
mental health, which consider frustration, anxiety, or unsatisfied desires to be marks of ill
health rather than part of the human condition.
o false goal is "social adjustment" - creating a "healthy" society devoid of crime, poverty, or
laziness - that in Kass's view lies outside the purview of doctors. Responsibility for creating a
"healthy society" and healthy lifestyles, he argues, rests with policymakers, public health
professionals, parents, clergy, teachers, and judges.
o Finally, avoid the goal of prolonging life indefinitely or escaping death altogether. To be
alive and healthy are not the same. We are born with two inescapable "diseases" - aging and
mortality - and, for Kass, medicine should be concerned with reconciling itself to these
conditions rather than transcending them.
Public health messaging with a history of being value laden - CORRECT ANSWER ·
Jonathan Metzl writes, "is a term replete with value judgments, hierarchies, and blind
assumptions that speak as much about power and privilege as they do about well-being."16
When we see someone smoking a cigarette and remark, "smoking is bad for your health,"
what do we really mean? Often, what we really mean is "you are a bad person because you
smoke." Likewise, the comment "Obesity is bad for your health" may be less about a medical
problem than about the implicit assumption that the person is lazy or weak of will. These
values are easily wrapped into public health advertisements.
Media skewing definition of health when equating health with appearance and performance -
CORRECT ANSWER · Magazines such as Health, Men's Health, Women's Health,
Cosmopolitan, and many others all share the assumption that health is intimately tied to a
person's appearance and their sexual and athletic performance. They tout the importance of
proper body image under the label of a "healthy" lifestyle: nice skin, toned abs, bulging
biceps, even plastic surgery. In presenting these physical practices as part of a healthy
lifestyle (rather than as the product of cultural narcissism) these and other "health" magazines
actually construct certain bodies as desirable and others as unwanted or repulsive.
