Delbert Yip > Recent Status Updates

2nd chapter was great:

“Such a label immerses people in bureaucratic and psychiatric identities, and ultimately allows an institutional calculus to overcome any other value. Defining someone as service-unworthy denies the human needs and capacities of both parties. It shrinks the moral status of both client and provider, but the onus to alter the situation falls more heavily on the more powerful provider.”

Oh, this is so brilliantly written. An excellent and highly informative narrative account of the core issues of community psychiatry. I will surely be revisiting this many times.

The approach is interesting (starting with the medical facts). The cases are much more 'clinical' compared to other of the bioethics books I've read or am reading right now. It adds more granularity to the cases, although it isn't necessary for the ethical discussion in most cases. I'll continue to skim through the rest of the book, mainly for the cases and straightforward recommendations.

Skimmed the first 2 chapters. There are some interesting cases, but overall, I can't grasp where the main thread is. The chapter titles are questions, e.g. "What is health care?", but they aren't answered. The information is alright, the organization is lacking.

Well organized, clearly written. "Depth" of examples/cases and discussion questions can be inconsistent. The single chapter on beneficence and nonmaleficence could be expanded, given that 2-3 chapters were spent on informed consent. Latter half of the book seems to focus on specialized topics, e.g. end-of-life, which I'm hoping to look at soon.

Some very powerful stories here.

“She fixed her eyes on mine and said, ‘Gail, I’ll never have sex again’, and she cried, a lot, as we sat in silence, she cried for the loss of her sexuality. … Acknowledging the pain of that realisation and allowing Jo to verbalize her feelings was the most helpful thing I could do. … I remember saying ‘**It’s okay to cry Jo, because that is worth crying for.**’”

The author presents a new interpretation of physiological electricity that is interesting but hard to grasp. Is there really no cation flow? K+ extrusion? Hmm..?

I skimmed the conclusion and found the arguments interesting. Definitely good for thought.

The text is about 30 years old, but this really only affects the relevance of (some of) the cases. The breakdown and diversity of cases is very interesting, e.g. I've noticed a bunch of stuff to do with the US army.

Some very memorable quotes and instructions in this chapter on "Breaking bad news." Notably,

"Just let it be news" (p82), and

"...if they are still alive, they still have strengths" (p85)

Fascinating read, and very clear writing.

"All we may be capable of is being with the person in his or her pain... If we cannot do something for the sufferer, we are called upon to dwell in whatever truth and understanding we have come to which is beyond suffering. It is here that true compassion arises."

Finished the first half of the book, which introduces psychological concepts, theories, and techniques.

The dialogue examples and personal anecdotes are helpful examples of how to integrate the counselling approach into day-to-day clinical interactions.

Some of the discussion seems overly superficial or even unnecessary, though this is likely a non-issue, given the limited, or unique, roles most physicians play.

Hospitals and the first real hospices, versus the French “hospices”

Interesting development and approach to trust, with short closing on the more ‘natural’ lay attitude towards death, which I’ve noticed in other, older media, too

Few short chapters which weren’t superfluous in the least. Some great quotes that I’ll try to remember.

Need to reread last couple pages, but I like how nearly no math or physics knowledge is assumed.

180 on how to nurse the dying.

Slowly making progress. Style of writing takes some getting used to. I’d be exaggerating if I said I understood every argument, though.

The second chapter is presumably an introduction to EEGs, but seems anything but. One sentence is used to describe the voltage polarity of records and two for the naming of electrodes. The first chapter was better, and, so far, the third, too.

Examples are interesting. Writing is also easy to follow.

The shift from religious norms to worldly ideals gave me a new perspective on value/virtue systems. Made it out of the 19th and 20th centuries, where euthanasia, or a good death, and, in particular, how different members of society, especially physicians, went about granting it, changed quite drastically via effective sedatives and painkillers.

Similar debates on euthanasia, consent, informing patients and family, etc.

Not a fan of sifting through all the historical context that prefaces the essay itself. I'll probably read the essay and then go back. So far isn't too dense of a read, but definitely takes a bit of time to parse.

Very neat way of presenting a fascinating subject. I totally did not expect the introduction to be a literal conversation. Probably one of a kind among technical texts in that regard. Anyhow, on-hold since at least a few months because I got sidetracked with GLMs.

Fantastic introduction, will keep re-reading for the historical overview of bioelectricity. Also got me interested in applications like ECGs and how they were developed. On-hold until I brush up on my multivariable calculus and learn some basic physics.

Restarting this after 2 years, probably. I like the casual, frank writing style. The concepts are a bit difficult to understand without a physics/electronics background, but so far very interesting.

Like it a lot so far. Introduces ideas and motivation without too little or too much text.

Pretty good. Seems to believe palliative care arose in the last few decades. Talks a bit about economics of healthcare, which isn’t unexpected.

I like the operational definition of “economizing dying” as “embracing a controlled and restrained self conduct toward…modern medicine.” Neat way to think of it.

Stopped a while ago after getting stuck on a question in chapter 5. Might revisit at some point. Nice presentation of the topics but at times very matter of fact. I would prefer a bit more intuition and realistic applications.

Some typos. I like the examples.