Virtual Mentor. March 2008, Volume 10, Number 3: 133-188. Full Issue PDF

March 2008 Contents

Medicine and Personhood

Ethics Poll

The definition of "personhood" is continually debated by philosophers, medical ethicists, and the public. Do you believe that patients in persistent vegetative states (PVS) and anencephalic infants are persons?
I believe that simply being alive and being human means one is a person. Therefore both are persons.
My definition of personhood is religiously grounded. I believe all human beings are created in the image of God and have a divine origin which confers personhood. Therefore both are.
I hold the view that personhood is relational. Therefore, if these patients are member of families or communities to whom they are important, then personhood is conferred upon them.
I believe that personhood is grounded in personal history and a collection of attributes, i.e., "personality," that mark an individual as unique. Therefore the PVS patient is a person, while the anencephalic infant is not.
I use consciousness or the possibility of a return to consciousness as the clinical benchmark of personhood. Therefore neither is a person.
I believe that to be a person one must be capable of rational thought and purposeful action and must have the ability to relate to others. Therefore neither is a person.

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From the Editor

Persons, Bodies, Minds, and Disease
Jennifer Kasten
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:135-137.

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

Decision Making in a Case of Personality Change
Commentary by Kristi L. Kirschner
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:138-143.

Duty to Warn and Dissociative Identity Disorder
Commentary by Michael A. Norko
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:144-149.

Psychosomatic Elaboration of Distress
Commentary by J. Wesley Boyd
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:150-153.

Journal Discussion

Evaluating Sources of Clinical Knowledge
Raymond Raad
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:154-157.

Clinical Pearl

Recognizing and Treating Conversion Disorder
Sean M. Blitzstein
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:158-160.

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

Mental Capacity and Contracts
Lee Black
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:161-164.

Policy Forum

Research Funding Favors Allopathic Medications
James Lake
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:165-170.

Medicine and Society

Personhood and Autonomy in Multicultural Health Care Settings
Daniel Fu-Chang Tsai
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:171-176.

History, Art and Narrative

History of Medicine

Holistic Medicine and the Western Medical Tradition
Sneha Mantri
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:177-180.

Resources

Suggested Readings and Resources
PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:181-186.

About the Contributors
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Virtual Mentor. 2008; 10:187-188.