Law, Literature, and Medicine, Southern Methodist University (Dedman)

Seminar for law students and medical students that provides an opportunity to read and discuss novels, poems, plays, and short stories concerning the two professions, including ethical dilemmas encountered in legal and medical practice and a variety of client and patient experiences. Readings also focus on the professional and academic aspects of the humanities in law and medicine. Students have joint assignments and projects throughout the term and are required to complete a research paper or comparable final project. Ten 3rd-year J.D. candidates and ten 4th-year M.D. candidates (from the University of Texas - Southwestern Medical School) read and discuss novels, poems, plays, and short stories for fourteen weeks. Half-way through the semester, they produce some poetry (with prompts from me). At the end of the semester, they produce artistic final projects. These have included a French horn concerto on the five stages of grief, innumerable collections of poems and short stories, paintings, collages, photo essays, etc. The general purpose is to explore the concept of professionalism through works of literature and to compare the "hidden curriculum" of the students' respective programs in terms of the values to which they are exposed. Additional important goals include: improving narrative skills and promoting empathy as a professional value. This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.