Sites of interest
Medical Rhetoric on Facebook
Medical rhetoric blogs:
Medrhet on Twitter
Society for Disability Studies
Disability Rhetoric
Rhetoric Society of America
American Society for the History of Rhetoric
International Society for the History of Rhetoric
Conference on College Composition and Communication
Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology
Coalition for Health Communication |
Health care is a vast industry across the world, and in addition to size, the qualitative nature of health care is expanding, with intensive research on new drugs and on medical treatment involving such astounding ideas as altering the DNA of the patient. Philosophies of health care are also shifting, from an increasing belief in the rights of patients to help determine their care, to greater interest in alternatives to western biomedical approaches. The use of complementary and alternative medicine is growing, and traditions outside western practice, such as acupuncture, are becoming routine.
In addition to the increasing variety of medical treatments, the modern Medical Industrial Complex can involve vast sums of money, with concomitant questions of power and influence. Ethical questions about medicine can provoke heated passions, and political issues rising from these topics are debated on both the local and national level.
Discussions of health care and medicine are too important for us not to pay attention, and along with politicians, journalists, scientists, and sociologists, the analyses of rhetorical scholars can be useful voices in this discourse. There is a growing interest in medical rhetoric, and with this website we are saying that we think that interest should grow still further.
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