Touching the Spirit: Re-enchanting the Person in the Body.

In this essay, we argue that touch constitutes a sacred connection between the patient and practitioner. When touch is avoided or overlooked, the enigmatic inner workings of the body are ignored as those aspects of the body that can be quantified and ultimately controlled are emphasized. In utilizing touch as a fundamental way of opening up space for the sacred, the practitioner affirms the humanity for both the patient and herself.

Innovation Through Tradition: Rediscovering the "Humanist" in the Medical Humanities.

Throughout its fifty-year history, the role of the medical humanist and even the name "medical humanities" has remained raw, dynamic and contested. What do we mean when we call ourselves "humanists" and our practice "medical humanities?" To address these questions, we turn to the concept of origin narratives. After explaining the value of these stories, we focus on one particularly rich origin narrative of the medical humanities by telling the story of how a group of educators, ethicists, and scholars struggling to define their relatively new field rediscovered the studia humanitatis, a Renaissance curriculum for learning and teaching.

Artificial nutrition and hydration: the evolution of ethics, evidence, and policy.

Introduction: The debate over use of artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) in terminal illness, including advanced dementia, remains contentious despite extensive ethical and empirical investigation.

Methods: For this narrative review we undertook a focused, selective review of literature reflecting ethical analysis, empirical assessment of outcomes, legal responses, and thinking within the Roman Catholic religious tradition.

Results: The history of the debate over the past 60 years results from a complex interplay of ethical concerns, a growing empirical database, legal changes, public opinion, and financial as well as institutional concerns.