Harry Potter article in medical journal

[pegkerr]

I cackled madly through this entire article, which appeared in CMAJ (Canada's leading medical journal). The title is "Duty of care to the undiagnosed patient: Ethical imperative, or just a load of Hogwarts?" I particularly enjoyed learning about the certification for wizarding healers (the TOAD: Terribly difficult tests of the Occult Arts leading to a Doctorate in magic) and the note at the end ("This article was not peer reviewed, because we only have muggles in our database.") Here is the abstract:

With the restoration of You-Know-Who to full corporeal form, the practice of the dark arts may lead to multitudes being charmed, befuddled and confounded. At present, muggle ethics dictate that aid may be rendered in a life-or limb-threatening situation, but the margins are blurred when neither is at stake. Muggle and wizard healers, fearful of being labelled ambulance chasers, may shy away from approaching those who remain blissfully unaware of their illnesses. We describe 4 case studies in which we intervened as muggle healers, to salutary effect. The afflicted were healed or helped, without bringing the weight of the Ministries of Magic or Magical Healing upon us. We advocate a spirit of cooperation between muggle and magical folk, mindful of the strengths that the healing arts from each community have to offer. As long as the intent is beneficent, healers or even the wizard or muggle on the street may intervene and render aid to the afflicted.

Enjoy.

Comments

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Hee! That was hilarious; thanks for the link. :)

[blackholly.livejournal.com]

That's just beautiful.

[darkthirty.livejournal.com]

Geez, that title gave me the creeps - I didn't think anyone but me used the term "ethical imperative" in relation to HP almost certainly...

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

This sounds vaguely familar. I just have to remember WHERE I read something similar before....(wanders off to search pubmed).

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I like it when academic journals get a little silly. My favorite example is from 1982, a proposal for "The Journal of Mathematical Ethics," which proposed answering such philosophical questions as: we know that fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong. What's the greatest number N such that N Frenchmen can be wrong?

B