Stories Matter

Rita Charon, M.D. is Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the Program in Humanities and Medicine at Columbia University. Martha M. Montello is Associate Professor of History and the Philosophy of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical School.

Introduction - memory and anticipation, the practice of narrative ethics, Rita Charon and Martha M. Montello. Part I Narrative knowledge: narratives of human plight - a conversation with Jerome Bruner, Jerome Bruner; the ethics of medicine, as revealed in literature, Wayne Booth; like an open book - reliability, intersubjectivity, and textuality in bioethics, Laurie Zoloth and Rita Charon. Part II Narrative components of bioethics: context - backward, sideways, and forward, Hilde Lindemann Nelson; voice in the medical narrative, Suzanne Poirer; time and ethics, Rita Charon; the idea and character, Anne Hunsaker Hawkins; plot - framing contingency and choice in bioethics, Tod Chambers and Kathryn Montgomery; the reader's response and why it matters in biomedical ethics, Charles M. Anderson and Martha Montello. Part III Case studies in narrative ethics: the narrative of rescue in pediatric practice, Walter Robinson; beyond the authoritative voice - casting a wide net in ethics consultation, Susan Rubin; of symbols and silence - using narrative and its interpretation to foster physician understanding, Marcia Day Childress; narrative understanding and methods in psychiatry and behavioral health, Richard Martinez; in the abscence of narrative, Julie Connelly. Part IV Consequences of using narrative methods: narrative ethics and institutional impact, Howard Brody. (Part content).