April 29 from 6:00-7:30PM Dr. Sara Rushing presenting “The Patient as Citizen: Health Care, Politics and Autonomy” Register for this event.
In this talk, Sara Rushing, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at MSU, will explore the concepts of freedom and compliance in the context of health care and medicine. In mainstream American medicine, patient autonomy is a strong value, often described as a commitment to choice and control. In reality, our ability to will and direct our own treatment is often deeply constrained. When we extend beyond the context of illness and look at public health initiatives such as vaccination programs, our notions of freedom become even more complex. Rushing will examine our interdependence with others and our reliance on expert knowledge to make decisions about our lives.