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Table 6 P CR session titled “Eugenics and the culture of medicine”

From: The design and implementation of a longitudinal social medicine curriculum at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine

Relevant basic science material: genetics

PCR Learning Objectives

 1. Discuss how what is condoned and promoted within the culture of medicine is in a constant state of social reevaluation.

 2. Understand the history of eugenics at the University of Vermont and in the state of Vermont.

 3. Understand the genetics of race and how it has been used to justify mistreatment.

 4. Examine communication in the context of medicine.

PCR Readings/Resources

 1. Description of eugenics in Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/VT/VT.html

 2. Passage from “Breeding better Vermonters” by Nancy Gallagher

 3. Donald Berwick’s article, “The epitaph of profession”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2629825/

 4. Description of the Eugenics Survey in Vermont: http://www.uvm.edu/~eugenics/famstudiesf.html

PCR Sample Discussion Questions

 1. What is the definition of race? Is race genetically acquired? How has science/genetics been used to justify mistreatment?

 2. Who are the Abenaki people?

 3. How has medicine and the practice of medicine changed over time?

 4. Where does science end and social perception begin?

 5. How is the history of eugenics at Vermont a useful way to think about how cultural expectations of the role of medicine are constantly changing?

   a. Are there things that are currently happening in medicine today that might seem problematic with the benefit of hindsight?

 6. History of medicine and doctors is one of silencing different types of people and instituting certain types of people, white men in suits, as physicians and silencing others

 7. Do you know of any other examples of the institution of medicine causing more harm than good?

 8. Is forced sterilization ever justified?

 9. How is the inequitable distribution of resources in the healthcare system similar to the eugenics movement?

 10. How do modern attempts to interfere with genetics resemble or not resemble eugenics movements of the past?