Keeping Faith: Ethics and the Physician-Writer
Authors: Jack Coulehan, Anne Hunsaker Hawkins
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2003)

Medical Writings19 August 2003Keeping Faith: Ethics and the Physician-WriterJack Coulehan, MD, MPH and Anne Hunsaker Hawkins, PhDJack Coulehan, MD, MPHFrom State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794; and The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033.Search for more papers by this author and Anne Hunsaker Hawkins, PhDFrom State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794; and The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-139-4-200308190-00030 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Writing about patients is a growth industry. While doctors have always shared detailed case histories with their colleagues, many physicians now publish stories about patients designed for a broader professional and lay public. Stories and poems written by physicians appear in medical journals, commercial magazines, and books and anthologies intended for a general audience. These stories about medical care are usually presented, either implicitly or explicitly, as the writer's real experience (hence, nonfiction), although the writers sometimes indicate that they have altered or fictionalized the work. In other cases, physician-writers produce first-person fiction (so indicated) that reads like real-life professional ...References1. Charon R. Narrative medicine: form, function, and ethics. Ann Intern Med. 2001;134:83-7. [PMID: 11187429] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Huyler F. The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine. New York: Henry Holt; 1999. Google Scholar3. Bonadio W. Julia's Mother: Life Lessons in the Pediatric ER. 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Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Jack Coulehan, MD, MPH; Anne Hunsaker Hawkins, PhDAffiliations: From State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794; and The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033.This essay grew out of a panel presentation on The Ethics of Writing about Patients at the meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, Baltimore, Maryland, 24 October 2002.Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the support and suggestions of Amy Haddad, RN, PhD, who participated in the panel.Disclosures: None disclosed.Corresponding Author: Jack Coulehan, MD, MPH, Department of Preventive Medicine, HSC L3-086, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8036.Current Author Addresses: Dr. Coulehan: Department of Preventive Medicine, HSC L3-086, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8036.Dr. Hunsaker Hawkins: Department of Humanities, H134, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byAffect and its Circulation in and Beyond Richard Selzer's “Imelda”Patients as Teachers, Medical Students as Filmmakers: The Video Slam, A Pilot StudyEmergency Medicine Narratives: A Systematic Discussion of Definition and UtilityEmergency Medicine Narratives: A Systematic Discussion of Definition and Utility 19 August 2003Volume 139, Issue 4 Page: 307-311 Keywords Bioethics Children Disclosure Emergency department Euthanasia Forecasting Infectious diseases Information technology Patient advocacy Preventive medicine ePublished: 19 August 2003 Issue Published: 19 August 2003 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2003 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...