Article (Mirabilia Medicinæ)
-
Have we learned from the mistakes of the past? Segregation of leprosy patients until the twentieth century
Patrícia Duarte DEPS, Brunella de A. FREITAS, Cícero D. CHICON, Larissa C. CASER, Líbia A. MENDES, Marianna M. SIQUEIRA, Luciana QUINTELA, Manoel A. CATARINA
Original title: Será que aprendemos com os erros do passado? Segregação dos pacientes portadores de hanseníase até o século XX
Published in
Keywords: Colony hospital, Human rights, Leprosy, Segregation.
Hansen’s disease, also known as "leprosy" in Brazil until the end of the 60s in the last century, is an infectious disease of low contagiousness. Once the cause was unknown, in Medieval Age, leprosy was a disease related to divine punishment, and leprosy patients were stigmatized and isolated in "leper colonies". The suffering of those who were diagnosed with leprosy lingers to nowadays, and the current article brings events that occurred with carriers of the disease in Brazil until 1979 mainly. In the State of Espírito Santo was built Dr. Pedro Fontes Hospital, also known as Colony of Itanhenga, which was opened in 1937. That Colony Hospital worked for several decades as a place of compulsory isolation of leprosy patients. We show the vision of former leprosy patients and former staffs of Dr. Pedro Fontes Hospital, and former inmates of Alzira Bley Educational Establishment, a site dedicated to the segregation of children born from leprosy patients while hospitalized at Dr. Pedro Fontes Hospital. The article presents the theme to bring up the reflection about decisions made by the society that hurts the basic principles of human rights.
-
Human dignity and conflicts of interest in clinical trials in the book "The Constant Gardener"
Márcia de Cássia CASSIMIRO, Joana ARAÚJO, Teresa Adão da FONSECA
Original title: Dignidade humana e conflitos de interesse nos ensaios clínicos na obra O Fiel Jardineiro
Published in
Keywords: Clinical trials, Conflict of interest (COI), Human Dignity, The Constant Gardener.
The cruel and violent history of humanity, full of injustices and tyrannies revealing indifference and disrespect for human dignity, has nevertheless shown real progress in understanding and recognising each person's dignity and in establishing such dignity as the foundation for the rights and ethical imperatives with which human society has been built. Nowadays, however, human progress in the fields of medicine, biotechnology and scientific research entails unacceptable abuse and heralds serious threats to human dignity. Objectively, loss of dignity can occur in situations of war, poverty, or social misery, but people in these situations can still preserve great dignity in their behaviour, not feeling unworthy in the eyes of others. There are situations of great indignity. The issue in The Constant Gardener involves a clear violation of dignity. The way the pharmaceutical industry, lacking any scientific integrity, conducts a clinical trial in a country who’s political and social situation is completely disrupted and where the population is highly vulnerable due to several factors such as their economic and social condition, food shortages, and high illiteracy is without a doubt a clear violation of human dignity. Conflicts of interest in scientific research, particularly in clinical trials and how they are conducted, represent a point of convergence of two different areas, science and ethics, encouraging reflection and the search for solutions that will promote not only scientific, but also moral progress.
-
The contribution of Ernesto Salles Cunha for paleopathology in the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil
Henrique Antônio VALADARES COSTA, Patrícia D. DEPS
Original title: A contribuição de Ernesto Salles Cunha para a paleopatologia no Estado do Espírito Santo, Brasil
Published in
Keywords: Archeology, Ernesto Salles Cunha, Paleopathology, Prehistory, Sambaquis.
Ernesto de M. Salles Cunha (1907-1977) was Professor of Dentistry School at the Universidade Federal Fluminense and set his life as an enthusiast of the Brazilian history of health, more precisely about the history of dental health and the development of archeology in Brazil. This article demonstrates the importance of the researcher presence in the Capixaba`s territory contributing with the studies about the dental paleopathology of the Sambaquis population in the State of Espirito Santo.
-
The abortion of useless life: the life between secularization and the sacred
Euler Renato WESTPHAL
Original title: O aborto de vida inútil: a vida entre a secularização e o sagrado
Published in
Keywords: Bioethics, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, Theology, Universal Human Rights.
This article approached the utilitarian ethic view about the human dignity. According to utilitarianism, the human life does not have dignity and it does not have worth by itself. The infanticide could be a possibility to free the parents of children who have any handicaps. Human life only has value if there is self-consciousness and a life project. From that moment on, the genetic improvement would also be justified by the PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis) so that children would not get serious diseases. Which are the limits between eugenics and therapy, among utility and human dignity? Alberto Giubilini, Francesca Minerva, Peter Singer, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Joachim Jeremias, Oscar Cullmann were partners of discussion in this article. It is remarked that the human dignity, the universal rights of human being are heritages of the Judeo-Christian theology. God unconditionally loves the sinner, the patient, the weak and the excluded. From that moment on, the Christian theology indicates to the solidarity of God to those who are considered, by the liberal eugenic, “not worth living”. The critical dialogue among bioethics and theology has the aim of seeking criteria so that the human life will not be instrumentalized by interests of human designers.
-
Editorial: Medical Education
Hélio ANGOTTI NETO
Original title: Editorial: Educação Médica
Published in
Keywords: Bioethics, Medical Education, Medical Humanities.
This edition of Mirabilia Medicinae brings articles about Medical Education and Bioethics, including several perspectives.
-
Introduction to Medicine didactics of the Middle-Ages: analysis of medical treatises of the Iberian Peninsula
Josué VILLA PRIETO
Original title: Introducción a la didáctica de la Medicina en la Edad Media: análisis de los tratados médicos de la Península Ibérica
Published in
Keywords: Alonso Chirino, Arnau de Vilanova, Didactic treatises, History of Education, History of Medicine, Medieval medicine, Ramón Llull.
The Medical treatises produced in the Iberian Peninsula express Galen and Hippocrates traditional knowledge almost without introducing something new until the Late Middle Ages. This study proposes an interpretative synthesis about those new elements in a significant period of the genesis of Medicine as a modern science: how intellectuals define their attributions, how is inserted its teaching at Iberian studia generalia, who compose textbooks and materials for its study, how are organized these same treatises and, of course, which contents do they have.
-
The Pedagogy of Clinical Empathy: Formation of the Physician
Nicholas J. BELLACICCO, James A. MARCUM
Original title: The Pedagogy of Clinical Empathy: Formation of the Physician
Published in
Keywords: Empathy, Medical Education, Quality Healthcare, Sympathy.
Clinical empathy is a lively topic of discussion in the contemporary medical literature. Research indicates that empathetic physicians receive higher patient satisfaction ratings, as well as improved patient health outcomes, compared to non-empathetic clinicians. Consequently, clinical empathy appears to be instrumental in providing quality patient care. If empathy is essential for improving healthcare outcomes, should not medical students learn to be more empathetic? To address this question, we first explore the distinction between clinical sympathy and empathy. Then, two essays from the medical literature are used to compare the empathetic with the non-empathetic physician. Next, we examine the pedagogical issues involved in teaching empathy to premedical and medical students, as well as to residents. Finally, we conclude by discussing the imperative for training clinicians to deliver quality empathetic healthcare.
-
Medical student's evaluation about use of eponyms in medical practice
Fleury Marinho da SILVA, Rodolfo Costa SYLVESTRE, José Guilherme Pinheiro PIRES
Original title: Avaliação dos estudantes de medicina sobre o uso de epônimos na prática médica
Published in
Keywords: Eponyms, Medical Education, Terminology.
Eponym is a terminology created from a person’s name for naming syndromes, signs or diseases. Several authors argue against the use of eponyms, yet some support their use. Our objective is to evaluate the opinion of medical students about the use of eponyms in medical practice. A qualitative research was done with students from 3rd to 5th year of a southeastern Brazilian medical school, through the application of a questionnaire, interview recording, and transcript of the answers. The qualitative analysis was done using the evocations of the subjects under study. The majority of the students was against the use of these nomenclatures, both in medical practice and in basic training. The students argued the difficulty for memorizing the names and obstacles in communication when using the eponyms. However, they also remember that the use of eponyms is frequently a tribute to the first physicians in history and its use is already common in the academic and professional environments. A major debate among medical educational institutions and students should be considered for probable adjustments of the difficulties that students have faced in their undergraduate period concerning the use of eponyms.
-
Two medical rationalities in the same teaching space: memories of acupuncture in Florianopolis
Renata Palandri SIGOLO
Original title: Duas medicinas em um espaço de ensino: memórias sobre a acupuntura em Florianópolis
Published in
Keywords: Complementary medicine, Federal University of Santa Catarina, History of acupuncture, History of health, Medical Education.
How was it possible to create an acupuncture ambulatory within the UFSC University Hospital, in the years 1990's? This is the main topic in the present text, which seeks to understand, through the introduction of acupuncture in a teaching academic space, the meetings, disputes and negotiations between two medical rationalities which follow rather different paradigms. In that purpose, it uses interviews realized with acupuncturists who acted directly or indirectly for the insertion of acupuncture into the academic medical universe, taking them as memory speeches.
-
Law 12.871/13 – Medical Education in Brazil. Is the Medical School Ready?
Rosana ALVES, Filomena Eurídice Carvalho de ALENCAR, Cláudia Vasconcellos MIDIÃO, Gleison VALLE, Paulo Victor Ferreira MAI
Original title: Lei nº 12.871/13 – da Formação Médica no Brasil. A Escola Médica Está Preparada?
Published in
Keywords: Brazilian Association for Medical Education, Medical Education, Regional Council of Medicine.
Report from the I Regional Forum of Medical Education CRM-ES and ABEM RJ/ES, Vitória, June 19, 2015, including administrators, teachers, students and medical education authorities.
