Keith Wailoo: “Between Liberal Medicine and Conservative Care: The History and Politics of Pain Relief in the U.S. since WWII”

The UBC Node is helping to support the winter Science and Society Series

Keith Wailoo, Department of History and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

“Between Liberal Medicine and Conservative Care: The History and Politics of Pain Relief in the U.S. since WWII”

Coach House, Green College, UBC
February 2, 2012 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

This event is part of the Green College Science and Society group Series for winter, 2012

Link: http://sts.arts.ubc.ca/resources-events/science-society-series-at-green-...

Abstract: Over the last half-century, the field of pain medicine has shaped by controversy: when is pain real? what are the limits of medicine’s recognition of patients' experiences? does liberal pain relief create addiction? what to do when end-of-life pain care segues into physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia? Is chronic pain a legitimate basis for disability claims, long term benefits?  Wailoo’s talk explores the political and cultural history of these complex issues – as pain medicine emerged as a legitimate yet controversial area of medical care, as U.S. doctors, patients, politicians, and courts struggled over the place of pain and pain relief, and as the topic became a powerful microcosm of broader debates over disability, citizenship, liberalism and conservatism in American society.