Van Hollen article on cancer disclosure in India published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly
Sep 26, 2017
Handle with Care: Rethinking the Rights versus Culture Dichotomy in Cancer Disclosure in India
Cecilia Van Hollen
Medical Anthropology Quarterly
Cecilia Van Hollen's article, "Handle with Care: Rethinking the Rights versus Culture Dichotomy in Cancer Disclosure in India," was published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Van Hollen examines whether it is ethical to disclose or withhold information from patients about cancer diagnoses, a debate framed as pitting universal individual human rights against cultural pluralism. Based on ethnographic research with cancer patients in India, she argues that both sides of this debate overemphasize the importance of the content of the information that may be disclosed or withheld and underestimate the central ways in which the act of disclosing or withholding information is evaluated as a symbol of care of paramount concern to patients. 09/26/17