Category Archives: Autonomy

“Are You Alright?” On Pandemic Death, Isolation, Connection, and Walter Benjamin’s “The Storyteller”

Mary N. LayounA. Joseph Layon Gentle Reader – A short time ago my friend, colleague, comrade and sister – and I – were asked to submit a piece to “Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as … Continue reading

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Quora Query: Will Trump Turn Out To be the Best Thing That Happened to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

[From 2016, slightly modified]: No. We are in for a rather wild ride, and I don’t mean that in the most pleasant or interesting way. The Trump administration – or should I say anti-administration since Trump has appointed government haters … Continue reading

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Quora Query: Does it Really Happen That Doctors Let Their Patients Die Because the Patient’s Family Can Not Provide Money for the Treatment?

[From 2014, Slightly Updated]: While there is much wrong with the American Health System, one of the things that is right is that patients are generally not allowed to die because of inadequate finances; at least not precisely in that … Continue reading

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Quora Query: What Would the Patient Experience Be Like if You Designed a New Hospital?

[From 2013, slightly updated] Great question. I have spent my adult life in these places – hospitals – and I both love them (they feel like…..home) and hate them (so, so far from home). Were I to design a new … Continue reading

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Quora Query: Why Do Many Americans Think That Healthcare is not a Right for its Own Taxpaying Citizens, and Should it not be Considered as, or More, Important by the American Public Than is Education?

[Originally from 2012, slightly updated] I think first of all one need ask if the premise is correct: DO MOST Americans think that health care is not a right? And then I would ask: From where did you come up … Continue reading

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Quora Query: What is One Thing That you Regret Learning in Medical School?

It isn’t what I regret learning; it is what I regret not learning. 1. That death is cruel, fickle, and unjust; 2. That families often have no idea of medical limitations; 3. That physicians are often afraid to address points … Continue reading

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Quora Query: How Can You Maximize Your Happiness in Life?

So the question is: How do you maximize your happiness in life. And there are thousands of words just in this [Quora] Blog trying to answer that. Here is my 2 cents and there are two parts to the answer; … Continue reading

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Quora Query: Why Do Homeless People Become More Mentally Ill?

I think [previous answers] have it pretty much [covered]. People often become homeless because of mental illness. But homelessness is a bit more complex. Homelessness can be acute or chronic. Acute is usually made up of women and children who … Continue reading

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Quora Query: Why do you believe that people who abuse the healthcare system in the US should be enabled, through not telling them, in no uncertain terms, that their non-emergency issues are just that…non-emergencies?

There are several fine answers to this query – see, particularly, the one by former Nurse Mara Obelcz on Quora. And just as there are several answers to your question, there are several – many – reasons that people come … Continue reading

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Quora Query: How do I donate my body to medical research? Can I choose the institution? Is there some reason I might choose one over the other? I’m in Iowa, USA, by the way. I’m a young 70, but a dear friend recently did this and it seems like a wonderful idea.

It IS a wonderful and generous thing to do. I can still remember the start of our anatomy year in medical school. We – as I remember there were 4 or 5 of us to each cadaver – were introduced … Continue reading

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