A sustainable medicine: Lessons from the old order amish

Journal of Medical Humanities

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 31-42

  Girod, Jennifer ^a  

^a MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN   (United States)

Author keywords

Amish; Callahan; Community; Organ transplantation; Sustainability; Sustainable medicine

Indexed keywords

EID: 2342552593     PISSN: 10413545     EISSN: 15733645     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1013037419428     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. Daniel Callahan, False Hopes: Why America's Search for Perfect Health is a Recipe for Failure (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998), 121.
2. Callahan, 135.
3. Callahan uses the example of national healthcare plans in Europe, which provide another valuable comparison.
4. For an in-depth discussion of Anabaptist roots, see George Huntston Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1962), 119ff.
5. th Edition (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 33.
6. Donald B. Kraybill and Marc A. Olshan, "Editor's Preface," The Amish Struggle with Modernity, edited by Donald B. Kraybill and Marc A. Olshan (Hanover and London: University Press of new England, 1994), vii.
7. Kraybill, "War Against Progress," Amish Struggle, 36.
8. Peter J. Ferrara, "Social Security and Taxes," The Amish and thé State, edited by Donald B. Kraybill (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 129.
9. Kathleen B. Bryer, "The Amish Way of Death: A Study of Family Support Systems," American Psychologist 34, 3 (March, 1979): 255-261.
10. Bryer, 259-260.
11. In addition to Callahan's writing, see William F. May, The Patient's Ordeal (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), 198.
12. A district comprises a congregation. In Indiana, districts are generally six square miles and have populations of approximately 160. Neighboring districts that share a common discipline comprise an affiliation.
13. See Daniel Callahan, What Kind of Life: The Limits of Medical Progress (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press), 198-206.
14. This article is a summary of the argument of my dissertation, "Ethical Issues of Transplantation: Making Decisions and Living with the Consequences" (1999). I would like to thank David H. Smith for all of his help throughout that writing process. In addition, I'd like to thank Jessica Pierce, Ann Mongoven and David H. Smith for comments on a draft of this paper. Most importantly, I'd like to acknowledge the people who really made this paper possible, the Old Order Amish individuals whose words and stories are represented here, the healthcare professionals who care for them, and Patty Bledsoe, who facilitated my entrance into both of these worlds.