The Atlantic Magazine website has an article that is an interview
with the author Luke Dittrich that provides some historical context
that shows how complicated the "H.M. Affair" is (i.e., his grandfather
conducted the surgery on HM, his grandmother was mentally ill,
his mother was good friends with Suzanne Corkin and his
writing of the book strained the relationship among his mother,
Corkin, and himself, etc.). See:
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/the-dark-story-of-neurosciences-most-famous-patient/494939/
As I read this interview I was reminded of "Genie", the modern
"Wild Child", and Rymer's book on her. Her story is also a
scientific tragedy but of a different sort. Nonetheless, one issue
that is mentioned in the interview is Corkin's apparent sense of
"ownership" of H.M. Quoting from the interview:
|...I don't think that she ever consciously set out to hurt Henry but
|I think there was a fundamental troubling aspect to their relationship.
|In many ways, it was proprietary. Howard Eichenbaum, who's
|an admirer of Corkin's, told me that people who work with patients
|like H.M., who are unique and valuable research subjects,
|inevitably develop that sense of ownership. And once those
|feelings develop, they can grow into troubling behavior.
In Genie's case there were different individuals who wanted to
"own" Genie, that is, control access to her and how she would
be used in research. The "Nova" episode makes this point,
I think, fairly clear.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
On Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:18:07 -0700,Kenneth Steele wrote:
One of my several strong reactions to this story was about the informed
consent
issue. Assuming that Corkin's analysis of H. M.'s disability was
correct then
how could they assume that H.M. was competent to give consent?
Researcher: You agreed to the brain implant stimulation procedure.
Henry M.: Really? I don't remember.
Researcher: Here is your signature.
Henry M.: Really? I don't remember signing that paper.
Researcher: Trust me.
Henry M.: Now who are you again?
Ken
PS- Yeah I know that 1992 was back in the 20th Century when dinosaur
roamed the
planet but to quote MP:
"Insert WTF? here"
On Aug 11, 2016, at 6:42 PM, Mike Palij <[email protected]> wrote:
The "Inside Higher Ed" website now has an article on the Corkin
affair, summarizing some of the key points:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/11/new-book-criticizing-well-known-professor-neuroscience-who-died-year-sparks-ire-her
[snipped]
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