Work

Toward humanistic healthcare through dystopian visions: Sally Wiener Grotta’s “One Widow’s Healing”

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Critical medical humanities critique the traditional medical humanities' focus on producing humane doctors, arguing that it plays only a supplementary role in medical education, and advocate for understanding health, disease, and humanity from a biocultural perspective. Essentially, they emphasize structural inequalities in modern medicine. METHODS: This study analyzes Sally Wiener Grotta's "One Widow's Healing" from the perspective of critical medical humanities. In line with this critical perspective, this study highlights the human alienation and oppression caused by biopower and technology-driven medicine in "One Widow's Healing." RESULTS: This story presents a dystopian vision of future healthcare systems in the highly technologically advanced and hyper-connected societies of 2100 and advocates for a reorientation of medicine toward a holistic, culturally informed practice that prioritizes human well-being and empathy. CONCLUSIONS: By analyzing the literary response to the dystopian future, this study explores the potential dangers at the intersection of capitalism and technocentric healthcare, reflecting on the future direction of humanistic medicine.

Source: Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine

DOI: 10.1186/s13010-025-00163-5

Author: Meeyoung Kang

Institution: Sookmyung Women's University

Language: English

Topic: Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,790

Funders: National Research Foundation, Sookmyung Women's University, National Research Foundation of Korea