Healthcare and Religion Lecture Series

Scott Stonington, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Affiliate, Division of General Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine
University of Michigan

Abstract: In the US, the pendulum has recently swung from liberal prescribing to systematic restriction of opioids. Meanwhile, pain management remains uncomfortable and frustrating for most clinicians and patients. Using a series of cases from the US and Thailand, this talk explores concepts from Buddhism about the difference between pain and suffering, and the ways in which the attempt to escape discomfort (for both clinicians and patients) can generate cycles of suffering that plague those involved in pain medicine.

Offered via Zoom, registration required.  Please register here.