Offers reflections, provocative questions, and practical strategies for ethical, responsible approaches to health history. In Do Less Harm, editors Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith bring together a group of leading historians and scholars to confront one of the most pressing questions in health history: How can we ethically approach stories of medicine and health without perpetuating harm? This thought-provoking collection invites readers into a crucial conversation about the responsibilities of historians when documenting the past. Through carefully curated essays, the contributors explore the ethical dilemmas that arise in researching, teaching, and writing about the history of health care. From patient privacy to the politics of archives, the essays cover how health histories have often overlooked, misunderstood, or misrepresented the people and communities most affected by medical practices. The contributors challenge the assumptions of the field, offering a more thoughtful approach to historical research-one that emphasizes empathy, accountability, and inclusivity. The book raises provocative questions and proposes practical strategies for historians and scholars to do less harm in their work and is organized around key themes such as research, teaching, writing, and public engagement, making it an indispensable resource for anyone working in the history of health care, ethics, or the health humanities. With its engaging style and accessible insights, Do Less Harm offers a fresh and timely perspective for academics, students, and readers interested in the ethical challenges of representing the past.
Courtney E. Thompson is an associate professor of history at Mississippi State University. She is the author of An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in Nineteenth-Century America. Kylie M. Smith is an associate professor and the director of the Center for Healthcare History and Policy at Emory University. She is the author of Talking Therapy: Knowledge and Power in American Psychiatric Nursing.
Acknowledgments Introduction: A Field Guide to Doing Less Harm Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith Part I. The Historian 1 Becoming an Ethical Historian Richard A. McKay 2 Positionality and the History of Medicine Barron H. Lerner 3 Reparatory History Kylie M. Smith 4 Accessibility Nicole Lee Schroeder 5 Advocacy and Activism Jess Dillard-Wright Part II. Archives and Museums 6 Decolonizing Archives and Museums Shelley Angelie Saggar 7 Advising around Human Remains Collections Melissa Grafe 8 Identifying the Human in Human Remains Collections Aisling Shalvey 9 Stewardship of "Challenging" History of Medicine Collections Amanda L. Mahoney 10 Disability, Archives, and Museums Katrina Jirik 11 The Commercialization of Remains and Records Aparna Nair Part III. Research 12 Ethics and Ghosts beyond the Institutional Review Board Marco Antonio Ramos 13 Silences and Violence Ayah Nuriddin 14 Patients and Survivors Jonathan Sadowsky 15 Writing Ethical Medical History with Legal Sources Lauren MacIvor Thompson 16 Expert Witnessing History Stephen T. Casper Part IV. Writing 17 Names Adria L. Imada 18 Diagnoses and Language Claire D. Clark and Amy C. Sullivan 19 Writing about Images Michaela Clark 20 Citation Courtney E. Thompson 21 Peer Review and Editing Ahmed Ragab 22 Cultivating Ethical Strategies in Digital Health Humanities Britt Dahlberg and Jessica Martucci Part V. Teaching 23 Centering the Margins Antoine S. Johnson 24 Images and Primary Sources Beatriz Pichel 25 Discomfort and Compassion in the Classroom Cornelia Lambert 26 The Problems with Partners Sharrona Pearl 27 Teaching Graduate Students about Ethics Shannon K. Withycombe 28 The Ethics of Teaching Future Health Professionals Lan A. Li Conclusion: The Expanding Ethics of Doing Health History: A Personal Journey Susan M. Reverby Coda: A Report, a Turn Courtney E. Thompson Appendix A: Ethical Questions for Health Historians to Consider Appendix B: Recommended Readings Contributors Index
Offers reflections, provocative questions, and practical strategies for ethical, responsible approaches to health history.
