Pain--a political history: liberal relief and conservative care?

2015-11-11

University of Virginia. School of Medicine

Over the last half-century, pain medicine has been defined by controversy: when is pain real? Does too-liberal, overly compassionate relief create addiction? Is chronic pain a legitimate basis for disability claims and long-term benefits? What should we do when end-of-life pain care resembles physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia? Professor Keith Wailoo explores the political and cultural history of these complex medical and social debates, examining how pain medicine emerged as a legitimate yet controversial field; how physicians, patients, politicians, and the courts have shaped ideas about pain and its relief; and how the question “who is in pain and how much relief do they deserve?” has become a microcosm of broader debates over disability, citizenship, liberalism, and conservatism in American society.

Co-presented with History of the Health Sciences Lecture Series and
the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life, UVA

History of the Health Sciences Lecture

Wailoo, Keith (Speaker); Childress, Marcia Day (Moderator); University of Virginia. School of Medicine

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Filmed lectures

Pain — History; United States — Politics and government; United States

Medical Center Hour

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

English

The speakers in this presentation have given the University of Virginia permission to make it freely accessible online for all audiences to view. To request permission to reproduce, republish, and/or repost this presentation please contact the Historical Collections and Services Department of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia.

1 online resource (1 video file, 63:39 min.) : sound, color