Dr. Sherwin Nuland: A History of Medical Ethics

Dr. Sherwin Nuland, a writer of unflinching clarity and honesty about difficult topics including his own battles with depression, discusses the history of medical ethics from Hippocrates to the present. In his talk, Dr. Nuland will seek to illuminate the extraordinary ethical pressures exerted on today's doctors by technology, economics, and end-of-life issues. Author of the National Book Award--winning How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter, he has also penned The Wisdom of the Body, The Origins of Anesthesia, Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, The Mysteries Within, and Medicine: The Art of Healing. He is a clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, where he teaches bioethics and medical history.

This annual lecture recognizes the significant contributions to the Chicago Humanities Festival made by its founder and chairman emeritus Richard J. Franke.