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Article Responses: April 2002
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LETTERS
Different rules for dressing appropriately
Zain Kapasi (May 2002)
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Wong
(April 30, 2002 )
Hong Kong wongkwanchun@hotmail.com
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I am a 'female medical student' but i totally agree with you. I also hate the rigid and nonsense rules on male students' dressing code. However, according to one of my senior that actually there is already some improvements. In the past, they could be scolded on their hair style too. So, be patient, change in the medical field is usually slow.
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REVIEWS
Körperwelten: the fascination of authenticity
Dora Vertes (May 2002)
[full text...]
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Shirley Moore
(April 29, 2002)
University of Aberdeen u38sam@abdn.ac.uk
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Dora Vertes says that the human body is the most fascinating thing she has ever seen in her review of the "Body Worlds" exhibition in the May edition of the Student BMJ. I agree, especially after having recently visited the exhibition myself. However, unlike Dora, I did not find it to be "horror disguised", instead, I found it to be an amazing collection of highly educational material. The non-traditional arrangement of the bodies was not disrespectful, but afforded an understanding of exactly how all the components of the human body fit together so perfectly. "The Chess Player", "The Thrower" and "The Swordsman" were not "shocking, artificial poses" but demonstrations of how the nervous and musculoskeletal systems function in a body capable of such a wide range of movements. Were these plastinated bodies just artistic poses? Absolutely not! They were artistic, but only in the way that the living human form itself is a work of art.
I see nothing wrong with Gunther von Hagen's idea that everyone, not just medical students and doctors, should learn about the body. Everyone has a body after all and the more people know about their bodies the more, hopefully, they will respect them and treat them well. The exhibit of the non-smoker's and smoker's lungs can only encourage this. It is also important to remember that, as the Body Worlds website says (www.bodyworlds.com), the specimens on display "belonged to persons who declared during their lifetime that their bodies should be made available after their deaths for the qualification of physicians and the instruction of laypersons".
Ms Vertes wonders if the attendees "realised that they were looking at people who once lived, loved and died" I don't see how they could not as the exhibits were "brought to life" by their realistic poses.
I would also like to echo Ms Vertes' recommendation that every medical student goes to see this exhibition. Not to see the "disguised horror" of the soulless bodies, but to appreciate the workings of the human body in a way never possible in the DR. In my opinion it's worth every penny of the £6 entrance fee!
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Laura McBrearty
(April 27, 2002)
University of Glasgow 9904823m@student.gla.ac.uk
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I was interested to read Dora Vertes' views on the somewhat notorious 'Body Worlds' exhibition.
I think her article raised important issues about informed consent and respect.
If those whose bodies are now on display did not consent to this, then it is certainly shocking. However, if they had given their informed consent, as they seen to have, I cannot see what the problem is.
Indeed, if it is agreed that informed consent is necessary, is it then acceptable to move to a system of presumed consent for organ donation? Is informed consent unnecessary because the end, in this case, justifies the means?
I do not believe that proper safeguards can be put in place, and I am deeply uneasy about the prospect of organs being removed from patients who do not wish to be donors.
Miss Vertes writes of the importance of respecting life; of respecting patients. And this is of course important. But part of respecting people is about respecting their decisions, and therefore accepting them, even if we do not agree with them.
I carry an organ donor card; when I die, I am quite happy for any - indeed all - of my organs to be removed. But this is my decision; it is not one that I should make for a patient.
However, I do not argue with her assertion that Professor von Hagens wishes to make money. Two full-page ads in the Student BMJ in the past seven months - he must be furious. After all, there's no such thing as bad publicity...
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LIFE
Witch doctoring
Chee-Lan Chan (May 2002)
[full text...]
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Shehzad Rehman
(April 28, 2002)
Oklahoma Univ. Health Sci Center, Oklahoma City, USA shehzad202@yahoo.com
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Another interesting theory I read in relation to Vampirism is that it may have been caused by Porphyria. Not only do people with some types of porphyria have photosensitivity and disfiguration of the face, they are also shown to have exaggerated reactions to certain chemicals in garlic. In addition, is it implausible to suppose that they'd go out in search of blood to replace the blood that their body could not manufacture properly?
As I said, just a theory I've picked up as being mentioned in several places.
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EDITORIALS
Undergraduate medicines legal wrangle
Richard Jones (April 2002)
[full text...]
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Roger Stevens
(March 28, 2002)
University of Aberdeen rogerjgstevens@hotmail.com
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I disagree with Richard Jones' comment in his editorial "teaching in forensic medicine is woefully lacking at undergraduate level." 1 At the University of Aberdeen, we study forensic medicine through a series of ten one-hour lectures as part of our third year specialities teaching. The lectures are most entertaining and informative and are presented by our senior lecturer in forensic medicine, Dr James Grieve. The lectures cover all relevant aspects of medical jurisprudence and pathology as listed in the box "Essential medicolegal knowledge" accompanying Richard Jones's editorial, whilst the principles of poisons recognition and treatment are covered in clinical pharmacology.
We also complete a compulsory four-week ethics special study module at the end of the third year when we learn the four basic principles of medical ethics - beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy and justice 2 - and how to apply them. One wonders how many other medical schools offer this amount of compulsory teaching in forensic medicine and ethics at undergraduate level? Although the last survey of forensic medicine teaching at British medical schools was published in 1986 by Knight and Thompson, 3 another detailed up-to-date survey should be undertaken before we declare that this speciality is not taught adequately at medical school.
- Jones R. Undergraduate medicine's legal wrangle. studentBMJ 2002;10:90-1. (April.)
- Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
- Knight B, Thompson IM. The teaching of legal medicine in British medical schools. Med Educ 1986;20:246-53.
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LETTERS
We should learn from our mistakes
Israar Ul-Haq (April 2002)
[full text...]
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Sally Edwards
(March 28, 2002 )
Leicester-Warwick Medical School see197@yahoo.co.uk
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What an idealistic world Mr.Ul-Haq lives in? I agree with Balaji Rangarajan student bmj 2002:10:38 that feedback sessions after examinations would benefit the majority of students. Obviously Birmingham University have a good support system established for dealing with student problems. I would however like to point out to I. Ul-Haq that this is not the case at all Medical Schools.
I would be glad to take the initiative to find personal feedback; in fact as a year group we did. Response from the department "We are unable to give you the questions or your answers back, there are only so many that we can ask and if we give you the copies this eliminates these from being used again" Bizarre, I admit, but true.
As far as personal tutors go, someone decided in their wisdom that we didn't need them, after all we are all graduates and we no longer have problems with academia, finance, relaionships, family etc.?
So another suggested avenue of action closed to us...any suggestions now?!
Oh, and we have mentioned these problems repeatedly at staff-student meetings and on evaluation forms. However, with the amount of attention that is paid to the evaluation forms they may as well be filed in the bin!
As far as Warwick goes, it feels as though to ask for feedback you may as well bang your head against a brick wall as Leicester have the archaic attitude that they know best. We are only students after all, what would we know about improvements for subsequent years?
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