The morality of using acute pain as a diagnostic tool in emergency medicine, together with a critical history of acute pain measurement

At the Brocher Centre, Paul is collaborating with Drew Carter on a project that investigates the history and ethics of treating pain in the Emergency Department. In broad terms, the project historically identifies the reasons for the under-treatment of pain in the Emergency Department and then, through reflection on a series of personal interviews, examines the moral logic of health practitioners’ approaches to managing pain. Paul presented work concerning the contribution of the medical humanities in advancing understandings about the psychosocial determinants of pain at the 2012 World Congress on Pain in Milan. While based at the Brocher Centre, he and Drew will also present a seminar at the Universitat Basel.