SENIOR SEMINAR: LITERATURE AND MEDICINE
HSS 403-453 e-learning (Fall 2012)
DR. D. Z. FLEISCHER
E-mail address: doris.fleischer@njit.edu and/or sirod1@optonline.net
Office Phone: 973/596-5607 Home phone number: 718-615-0350
Office Hours: Wednesday and Friday, 2:30 PM-4PM (Cullimore 313)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines the relationship between literature and medicine by focusing
on important literary works including fiction, plays, poetry, and non-fiction. These
works reveal how medical issues underlie many of the vital questions of our age.
Among the subjects considered are the conflict in the medical profession between
achieving wealth and fame and maintaining one’s courage and integrity; urgent
public health questions; the struggles of the medical researcher; the influence of the
marketplace on medicine; medicine as art as well as science; the daily realities of a
family doctor’s life; the impact of politics on medical/health care decisions;
disability policy; eugenics and euthanasia; physician-assisted suicide; and the role of
the “gadfly” as initiator of changes in medical/health care policy.
FINAL GRADES WILL BE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING FORMULA:
Essays: 50 points –Five essays worth ten points each.
Forum Postings: 25 points
Concluding Project: 25 points
ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE REQUIRED IN ORDER TO RECEIVE CREDIT
FOR THE COURSE.
GENERAL STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
1. ALL STUDENTS MUST HAVE AN ACTIVE ACCOUNT FOR MOODLE
IN ORDER TO BE PROPERLY REGISTERED FOR THIS COURSE.
STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL EMAIL MESSAGES SENT
THROUGH MOODLE, AS WELL AS INFORMATION APPEARING ON
THE MOODLE FORUM AND ASSIGNMENT SITES.
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2. STUDENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING THAT, FROM THE
START OF THE SEMESTER, I HAVE THEIR CORRECT EMAIL
ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, MAILING ADDRESS, AND
OTHER RELEVANT PERSONAL INFORMATION. PLEASE INFORM
ME IMMEDIATELY IF THERE ARE ANY CHANGES.
3. PLEASE SECURE ALL OF THE REQUIRED TEXTS BEFORE THE
FIRST DAY OF CLASS. THE BOOKSTORE WILL NOT HAVE THEM
AVAILABLE SHORTLY AFTER THE BEGINNING OF THE
SEMESTER.
4. IF STUDENTS HAVE QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, THEY SHOULD
NOT HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME BY EMAIL,
TELEPHONE (973-596-5607), OR BY APPOINTMENT. STUDENTS
SHOULD BE SURE TO ARRANGE IN ADVANCE FOR ON-CAMPUS
APPOINTMENTS.
ASSIGNED TEXTS: ALL ARE REQUIRED
1. William Carlos Williams, The Doctor Stories [Selections]. New Directions.
(1984) ISBN:0-8112-0926-1
2, Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat [Selections]. Harper
& Row (Perennial edition). (1987) ISBN: 0-06-097079-0
3.
Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith. Signet Classic (1998) ISBN: 0-451-52691-0
4. Robert Jay Lifton, The Nazi Doctors [Selections]. Basic Books. (2000) ISBN:
0-465-04905-2
5) Doris Z. Fleischer and Frieda Zames, The Disability Rights Movement:
From Charity to Confrontation [ Selections]. Temple University Press.
[Selections] (2001) ISBN: 1-56639-812-6
6) Dale Wasserman’s play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (based on Ken
Kesey’s novel). Samuel French, Inc. (1970) ISBN: 10-05736134335
(7) Margaret Edson, Wit: A Play. Faber & Faber. (1999) ISBN: 100571198775
(8) Arthur Miller’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People.
Penguin. (1997) ISBN: 0-14-048140-0
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) FORUM POSTINGS: 25 POINTS
Students are required to post on the forum site substantive comments about each
week’s readings and research. Also, each week, students are required to make brief
responses to at least one other student comment.
2) ESSAYS: 50 POINTS
Students are required to submit to the Assignment site, on the dates noted below, an
analytic essay of 800-1,000 words in response to the indicated questions based on the
week’s reading. Each essay must have the student’s name, topic for the week (which
is next to the due date for the essay), number of the essay (#1, #2, etc.), and date of
submission clearly indicated. If students use ideas or words drawn from a source,
that source must be cited. In other words, all essays must be fully documented
according to Modern Language Association (MLA) parenthetical style. A Works
Cited list, following MLA style, must also be included. Both paraphrases and direct
quotes are to be cited following MLA documentation specifications. The link to
MLA specifications is the following:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/01/
Students should be rewriting papers throughout the semester following my corrections
and comments. These rewrites, along with first drafts containing my comments and
corrections, should be retained by students in the Moodle Assignment site. Grades will
be reconsidered in light of rewrites, which should be placed in the appropriate slot on
the Moodle Assignment site.
In all essays briefly integrate a documented references to at least one relevant,
reliable, and retrievable source other than the assigned text(s). Illustrations of
current relevant issues include the following: current medical education and
treatment practices, role of money and politics in the delivery of medical services
and medical research, current attitudes toward euthanasia, other genocides
(following the Nazi genocide), current disability issues, and current “whistle
blowers” on medical/pharmaceutical practices. Although peer-reviewed sources are
preferred, you may include also references to books, periodicals, newspapers,
documentary films, as well as reputable Internet sources that contain the names of
the authors.
Do not use "Wikipedia" or encyclopedias. Be especially careful of online sources. Be
sure that such sources are reliable and retrievable.
Examples of legitimate online sources are Google Scholar, New York Times, and
WebMd.
Peer-reviewed sources are preferable. A peer-reviewed source has been subject to a
“blind” review by other experts in the field to determine if the manuscript is worthy
of publication. Since the material is anonymously reviewed prior to acceptance for
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publication, peer-reviewed publications are believed to be the most reliable sources
of information. Examples of scholarly, peer-reviewed journals include The New
England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The
Lancet, Human Communication Research, The Academy of Management Review, and
The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Relevant NJIT Library Data
Bases include the following: Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier,
Omnifile, Lexis-Nexis, and Medline. Cite your source(s) in the body of your essay, as
well as in your "Works Cited" list. (For any questions, contact NJIT Research
Librarians Davida Scharf <scharf@njit.edu> or Heather Dalal <dalal@njit.edu>).
FINAL PROJECT: 25 points
Part I of this Project is a distillation of the semester’s work. In Part I students are
encouraged to make use of their own writing (analyses and research) throughout the
semester. See pages 7 and 8 for further details.
For Part II of the Concluding Project, students are required to interview a health
care professional, for example, a physician; medical researcher; bioethicist;
university-level educator who teaches courses related to health care, medical policy,
or the history of medicine; or an individual who deals with health care policy.
Students must submit name and title of interviewee for my approval by Friday,
November 9. Students will be provided with suggested questions for use at
interview. In the essay based on this interview, students will describe what
information, insights, or new perspectives they gained from their interviews with
health care professionals. Furthermore, students will indicate what health care
concerns are not being dealt with appropriately, as well as what changes they would
like to see implemented. (It is imperative that students refer to the Dr. David
Himmelstein [Harvard Medical School] Lecture, presented at the November 7, 2007
NJIT Technology/Society Forum. The link to the Lecture is
http://tsf.njit.edu/archive/index.php). Indicate briefly how the 2010 Patient
Prevention and Affordable Care Act deals with the issues to which Dr. Himmelstein
refers. See New York Times, June 29, 2012 article, “Health Care Reform and the
Supreme Court (Affordable Care Act).” Focus on what the Act does as a result of
the Supreme Court decision.
Students will be required also to submit copies of Power Point slides for a tenminute oral presentation, related to the interview and its relevance to the course , as
well as to pertinent current issues.
The entire Project should be submitted to the Moodle Assignment site by Monday,
December 17.
All assignments graded and returned to students must be rewritten reflecting my
comments and suggestions. These rewrites (as well as the original drafts) should be
retained in the Moodle Assignment site. Rewrites should be completed by no later
than Monday, December 17. All the essays will be reviewed, and grades will be re-
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considered in light of the rewrites. In addition, students must include the entire
FINAL PROJECT (Parts I and II) in the Moodle Assignment site. Included in Part
II should be copies of PowerPoint slides related to the interview with a health care
professional, as well as its relevance to the course and to pertinent current issues.
(See page 4 of the syllabus for details.)
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS:
PLEASE NOTE THAT ESSAYS ARE DUE BY 11:50 PM ON THE DATES
LISTED BELOW. ALTHOUGH LATE ESSAYS MAY BE ACCEPTED IF THE
EXPLANATION FOR THE LATENESS WARRANTS SPECIAL
CONSIDERATION, I CANNOT GUARANTEE PROMPT RETURN OF SUCH
LATE ESSAYS WITH MY COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS.
Students should inform instructor promptly if on-time essays are not received by
students (graded with comments and corrections) within three weeks of submission.
I--THE ROLE OF THE PHYSICIAN/RESEARCHER
Saturday, September 8. Read in W.C. Williams, The Doctor Stories, the following:
“Introduction,” vii-xv; “Mind and Body,” (p. 13); “The Girl With a Pimply Face,”
(p. 42); “The Use of Force,” (p. 56); “A Night in June,” (p.61); “Jean Beicke,” (p.
69); “The Paid Nurse,” (p. 92); “Ancient Gentility,” (p. 99); “The Practice,” (p.
119); “Poems,”(pp. 127-132.); “Afterword” (p.133). Post your analytic comments on
these readings on the Forum site by the indicated date.
Friday, September 14. Read in Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a
Hat, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” (p. 8); “The Lost Mariner,” (p.
23); “The Disembodied Lady,” (p. 43); “Hands,” (p. 59); “On the Level,” (p. 71);
“Witty Ticcy Ray,” (p. 92); “Cupid’s Disease,” (p. 102); “Reminiscence,” (p. 132);
“A Passage to India,” (p. 153); “The Dog Beneath the Skin,” (p. 156); “Murder,” (p.
161); all stories in “The World of the Simple,” (pp. 178-233). Post your analytic
comments on these readings on the Forum site by the indicated date.
Friday, September 21. Write a well-organized Essay #1 of 800-1,000 words,
submitted to the Moodle Assignment site, that is responsive to the following
question: How is the doctor/patient relationship reflected in the stories and poems of
William Carlos Williams (or William Eric Williams), as well as the clinical tales by
Oliver Sacks? Be sure to make reference to at least five works in each of these
volumes. For W.C. Williams, be sure to include at least one poem, and for Sacks,
choose at least one work from each of the four sections of his book.
Friday, September 28. Read S. Lewis, Arrowsmith, Chapters 1-23. Post your analytic
comments on these chapters on the Forum site by the indicated date.
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Friday, October 5. Read Arrowsmith, chapters 24-40. Post your analytic comments
on these chapters on the Forum site by the indicated date.
Friday, October 12. Write a well-organized Essay #2 of 800-1,000 words, submitted
to the Assignment site, which is responsive to the following questions: How does
Sinclair Lewis in Arrowsmith present the tension between idealism and
commercialism? Ultimately, what view of the proper role of science and the
scientist does Sinclair Lewis present in Arrowsmith?
II—CONTRASTS IN HEALTH CARE/MEDICAL POLICY IN A
TOTALITARIAN AND DEMOCRATIC STATE
For Essays due on November 2 and November 21, list chapters by titles and pages
in Works Cited list.
Friday, October 19, Read R. J. Lifton, The Nazi Doctors, pp. xi-xiii; 3-102; 134-213.
Post your analytic comments on the Forum site no later than the indicated date.
Friday, October 26. Read R. J. Lifton , pp.214-302; 418-504. Post your analytic
comments on these readings on the Forum site no later than the indicated date.
Friday, November 2. Write a well-organized Essay #3 of 800-1,000 words,
submitted to the Assignment site, that is responsive to the following questions: How
does Lifton describe the slippery slope from sterilization to euthanasia to
Auschwitz? Differentiating between Nazi doctors and prisoner doctors, indicate
how Lifton reveals the role of doctors in the practice of genocide. In your essay,
make specific references to the text. (Students are required to briefly integrate
references to the following articles (1) Cohen, Adam. “Four Decades After Milgram,
We’re Still Willing to Inflict Pain.” New York Times 29 December 2008:A24, and (2)
“Medically Assisted Torture.” Editorial. New York Times 9 April 2009: A26.)
[Consider the difference between individual immorality and state-sanctioned
immorality.]
Friday, November 9. Read D. Fleischer & F. Zames, The Disability Rights Movement
(updated edition) Personal Notes (xiii-xiv), Prefaces (xv-xxi), Chapters 1, 6, and 9.
Post your analytic comments on the Forum site by the indicated date. Also, please
submit name and title of your chosen interviewee by November 9. See Part II of Final
Project (Page 4 of syllabus for further details.)
Thursday, November 15. Read D. Fleischer & F. Zames, Chapters 10, 12, and13.
Post your analytic comments on the Forum site by the indicated date.
Wednesday, November 21. Write a well-organized Essay #4 of 800-1,000 words,
submitted to the Moodle Assignment site that is responsive to the following topics:
Describe the origin and evolution of the disability rights movement. Why is this
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stealth movement ultimately relevant to everyone? Relate your response to the
development of the movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),
technology, veterans, disability identity and culture, and the progression of the
movement in the 21st century.
III. THE ROLE OF THE GADFLY AS A COUNTERVAILING FORCE
Wednesday, November 28. Read the following two plays: Dale Wasserman’s
adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and
Margaret Edson’s Wit . Post your analytic comments on these plays on the
Forum site by the indicated date
Saturday, December 1. Read Arthur Miller’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An
Enemy of the People. Post your analytic comments on this play on the Forum site by
the indicated date.
Friday, December 7. Write a well-organized essay #5 of 800-1,000 words, submitted
to the Moodle Assignment site, which is responsive to the following question: How
does a major character (not necessarily the main character) in each of the plays
reveal the failure of prevailing assumptions, thereby upholding genuine ethical
values by countering the power structure, the majority, or the status quo? (For
example, with respect to Wit, you could refer to Nurse Susie as a significant major
character.) Explain, making specific references to each of these plays.
Monday, December 17, Final Project:
Part I of this Project will be a distillation of the semester’s work. Students are encouraged to
use their own writing (analyses and research) throughout the semester in order to answer the
questions below. Furthermore, your brief integration of sources other than the assigned readings
may be drawn from the five assigned essays. For each of the three essays below, briefly integrate
at least one related and reliable source, other than the assigned readings. Following MLA style,
write three fully-documented essays, concluding with a Works Cited list covering all three essays,
responding to the following:
1. Compare and contrast the approach to the medical profession of William Carlos
Williams, Oliver Sacks, and the fictional Martin Arrowsmith. Refer to specifics in The
Doctor Stories, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Sinclair Lewis’s novel
Arrowsmith. (24 points).
2.
How do The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation (by Doris Zames
Fleischer and Frieda Zames) and The Nazi Doctors (by Robert Jay Lifton) make the
following statement starkly clear: While grievances regarding medical issues can be
addressed in a democratic society, no such avenue is available in a genocidal totalitarian
regime such as the Nazi Third Reich. Refer to specifics in both works to support your
arguments. (22 points)
3. The gadfly is generally not welcomed, for, in not following the dictates of convention, he
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or she becomes a disturbing force. Yet the gadfly serves a social good by imposing the
possibility of alternative paths. How do major characters (not necessarily the main
characters) in Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (based on Ken
Kesey’s novel by that name), Margaret Edson’s Wit, and Arthur Miller’s adaptation of
Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People fit the model of the gadfly? (For example, in Wit,
the character you may wish to discuss could be Susie Monahan.) (14 points).
The Project should reach me electronically on the Moodle Assignment site no later
than Monday, December 17 by 11:50PM). Part I of the Final Project should total
no fewer than 1,500 words for all three essays combined (not for each essay). Use
the point allocation to determine the length of each of the three essays.
PART II OF THE FINAL PROJECT
For Part II of the Concluding Project, students are required to interview a health
care professional, for example, a physician; medical researcher; bioethicist;
university-level educator who teaches courses related to health care, medical policy,
or the history of medicine; or an individual who deals with health care policy.
Students must submit the name and title of the interviewee for my approval by
Friday, November 9. Students will be provided with suggested questions for use at
the interview. In the essay based on this interview, which should be at least 1,000
words, students will describe what information, insights, or new perspectives they
gained from their interviews with health care professionals. Furthermore, students
will indicate what health care concerns are not being dealt with appropriately, as
well as what changes they would like to see implemented. (It is imperative that
students refer to the Dr. David Himmelstein[Harvard Medical School] Lecture,
presented at the November 7, 2007 NJIT Technology/Society Forum. The link to the
Lecture is http://tsf.njit.edu/archive/index.php). Students must indicate briefly how
the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act deals with issues to
which Dr. Himmelstein refers. See New York Times, June 29, 2012 article, “Health
Care Reform and the Supreme Court (Affordable Care Act).” Focus on what the
Act does as a result of the Supreme Court decision.
Students will be required to submit to the Moodle Assignment site Power Point
slides of their ten-minute presentation, related to the interview and its relevance to
the course and to pertinent current issues. The entire Final Project should be
submitted to the Moodle Assignment site by Monday December 17 by 11:50PM.
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