Undergraduate Course: Medicine in Literature 2: Medical Ethics in Literature (ENLI10354)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines the representation of medical ethics in poetry, prose and drama from the late nineteenth century to the present day, tracing the development of medical ethics from a professional code of practice to the application of ethical reasoning to decision making. The course considers literary representations of ethical dilemmas encountered by medical professionals, philosophical frameworks used to negotiate competing ethical claims, and the dynamic relationship between medical practice and the humanities. |
| Course description |
This course examines the representation of medical ethics in poetry, prose and drama from the late nineteenth century to the present day, tracing the development of medical ethics from a professional code of practice to the application of ethical reasoning to decision making. The course considers literary representations of ethical dilemmas encountered by medical professionals, philosophical frameworks used to negotiate competing ethical claims, and the dynamic relationship between medical practice and the humanities. English Literature and Medicine students will have the opportunity to bring the perspectives of the humanities to bear on medical ethics; but they will also be asked to critically examine the ethical positions and perspectives espoused by literary criticism and literary texts. Medical ethical frameworks will be subject to scrutiny, but so too will the ethical frameworks developed within medical humanities. The course will appeal to students who have a particular interest in ethics, the intersections between medicine, science and literature, and the medical/health humanities.
Seminar Schedule
1. Course introduction: In the absence of ethics.
Extract from British Medical Association Ethics Department, Medical Ethics Today (2004).
The Hippocratic Oath.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)
Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Case of Lady Sannox" (1894)*
William Carlos Williams, "The Use of Force" (1938)
2. The Wounded Storyteller: Narrative Ethics and Pathography.
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (1915)
Jean Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (1997)
Extract from Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller (1997)
3. Contagion and Public Health
Albert Camus, The Plague (1947).
4. Human research and the public good
Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (1992).*
Andrew Ure, "An account of some experiments made on the body of a criminal immediately after execution, with physiological and practical observations", Journal of Science and the Arts 6, 283-294 (1819)*
Extract from Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010)
5. The Doctor as Critic: Narrative Medicine.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward (1967).
Extract from Rita Charon, Narrative Medicine (2006)
6. INNOVATIVE LEARNING WEEK
7. Anti-psychiatry and its legacy
Etheridge Knight, "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane" (1968)
David Edgar and Mary Barnes, Mary Barnes (1979)
Joe Penhall, blue/orange (2000)
Extract from R.D. Laing, The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness (1960)*
8. The Patient's Voice
Edna O'Brien, Down by the River (1996).
9. ESSAY WRITING WEEK
10. Gender Trouble
Jackie Kay, Trumpet (1998)*
Sandy Stone, 'The Empire Strikes Back: A Postranssexual manifesto' (1987)
Judith Butler, "Gender trouble" (1990)
11. Intimations of Mortality
Margaret Edison, W;t (2000)
John Donne, "Death, be not proud"; "If poysonous minerals" (1633)
Extract from Atul Gawande, Being Mortal (2014)
12. Neurocosmopolitanism; or, the ethics of literary criticism
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (2003)
Extract from Daryl Cunningham, Psychiatric Tales (2013)
Lisa Zunshine and Ralph Savarese, "The Critic as Neurocosmopolite", Narrative (2014)
Extract from G. Thomas Couser, Vulnerable Subjects (2003)
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | A MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as civilisation or other interdisciplinary classes, Freshman Year Seminars or composition/creative writing classes/workshops are not considered for admission to this course. Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having 4 literature classes at grade A.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 16 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Other Study Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
one hour per week Autonomous Learning Group
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One 2,500 word coursework essay (30%)
and practical assessment (10%).
Final assessment will consist of an examination essay of 3,000 words for both intercalated BMedSci students and English Literature students (60%).
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- By the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate core skills in the study of English Literature: essay-writing, independent reading, group discussion, oral presentation, small-group autonomous learning
- - perform textual analyses of literary texts
- - demonstrate competency in interdisciplinary research, evidenced by writing two essays which consider the relationship between literature, medicine, and ethics
- - show their understanding of the relationship between literature, medicine, and ethics, as expressed in literary texts from the late nineteenth century to the present day
- - show their understanding of historical developments in principlist medical ethics, narrative medicine, and narrative ethics
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Reading List
Extract from British Medical Association Ethics Department, Medical Ethics Today (2004).
The Hippocratic Oath.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)
Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Case of Lady Sannox" (1894)*
William Carlos Williams, "The Use of Force" (1938)
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis (1915)
Jean Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (1997)
Extract from Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller (1997)
Albert Camus, The Plague (1947).
Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (1992).*
Andrew Ure, "An account of some experiments made on the body of a criminal immediately after execution, with physiological and practical observations", Journal of Science and the Arts 6, 283-294 (1819)*
Extract from Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward (1967).
Extract from Rita Charon, Narrative Medicine (2006)
Etheridge Knight, "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane" (1968)
David Edgar and Mary Barnes, Mary Barnes (1979)
Joe Penhall, blue/orange (2000)
Extract from R.D. Laing, The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness (1960)*
Edna O'Brien, Down by the River (1996).
Jackie Kay, Trumpet (1998)*
Judith Butler, "Gender trouble" (1990)
Judith Halberstam, "The good, the bad, and the ugly" (2002)
Margaret Edison, W;t (2000)
John Donne, "Death, be not proud"; "If poysonous minerals" (1633)
Extract from Atul Gawande, Being Mortal (2014)
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (2003)
Extract from Daryl Cunningham, Psychiatric Tales (2013)
Lisa Zunshine and Ralph Savarese, "The Critic as Neurocosmopolite", Narrative (2014)
Extract from G. Thomas Couser, Vulnerable Subjects (2003)
FUTHER READING
BMA Medical Ethics Department: Medical Ethics Today The BMA's Handbook of Ethics and Law, Third edition. 2012
The Belmont Report: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/belmont.html
The Blackwell guide to medical ethics [electronic resource] / edited by Rosamond Rhodes, Leslie P. Francis, and Anita Silvers. 2007
Medical ethics [electronic resource] : a very short introduction / Tony Hope.
The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics [electronic resource] Volume 0. / Edited by Robert B. Baker, Laurence B. McCullough.
Inside the Ethics Committee
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007xbtd
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Goyal, Rishi: "Narration in Medicine". In: Hühn, Peter et al. (eds.): the living handbook of narratology. Hamburg: Hamburg University. URL = http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/narration-medicine
Phelan, James: "Narrative Ethics". In: Hühn, Peter et al. (eds.): the living handbook of narratology. Hamburg: Hamburg University. URL = http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/narrative-ethics
Online journals on medical ethics and the humanities:
Journal of Medical Ethics. http://jme.bmj.com/
BMC Medical Ethics. http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmedethics/
The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. http://jmp.oxfordjournals.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/content/by/year
The Hastings Center report. (Best accessed via MEDLINE) http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/ehost/detail?sid=36bd5f59-6760-4d4d-a497-31821adfbf5d%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4208&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mnh&jid=0410447
Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine: PEHM. http://www.peh-med.com/
Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics. http://www.heinonline.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/HOL/Index?index=journals%2Fyjhple&collection=journals
Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy. http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/journal/volumesAndIssues/11019
Neuroethics. http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/journal/volumesAndIssues/12152
Journal of Medical Humanities. http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/journal/volumesAndIssues/10912
The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/ehost/results?sid=9ed4f5c1-cb78-457f-956c-816a074942b1%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4208&bquery=%28JN+%22The+Journal+of+law%2c+medicine+%26+ethics%3a+a+journal+of+the+American+Society+of+Law%2c+Medicine+%26+Ethics+[J+Law+Med+Ethics]+NLMUID%3a+9315583%22%29+AND+FT+y&bdata=JmRiPW1uaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl
Medical Humanities. http://mh.bmj.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/content/by/year
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. http://journals.cambridge.org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/action/displayBackIssues?jid=CQH
Bell, Barbara Currier, ¿Williams' 'The Use of Force' and First Principles in Medical Ethics¿, Literature and Medicine, 1984, Vol.3, pp.143-151
Rosi Braidotti, Transpositions (2006)
Howard Brody, Stories of Sickness (2003)
Rita Charon, Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness (2006)
Mary K. Deshazer, Fractured Borders: Reading Women's Cancer Literature (2005)
Michel Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception (1963) Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilisation: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason (1964)
Arthur Frank, At the Will of the Body (1991)
Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (1997)
Yasmin Gunaratnam and David Oliviere, Narrative and Stories in Health Care: Illness, Dying, and Bereavement (2009)
Carole Jones, Disappearing Men: Gender Disorientation in Scottish Fiction 1979-1999 (2009)
Robert Kastenbaum, The Psychology of Death (1992)
A. F. Kleinman, The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition (1988)
James J. Sheehan and Morton Sosna (eds), The Boundaries of Humanity: Humans, Animals, Machines (1991)
Bonnie Steinbock, The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics (2007)
Susan Stryker and Aren Z. Aizura, The Transgender Studies Reader 2 (2013)
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Katherine Inglis
Tel: (0131 6)50 3617
Email: K.Inglis@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms June Cahongo
Tel: (0131 6)50 3620
Email: J.Cahongo@ed.ac.uk |
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