How Ancestral Trauma Informs Patients' Health Decision Making

Tina K Sacks; Katie Savin; Quenette L Walton

doi:10.1001/amajethics.2021.183

How Ancestral Trauma Informs Patients' Health Decision Making

AMA J Ethics. 2021 Feb 1;23(2):E183-188. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2021.183.

Authors

Tina K Sacks¹, Katie Savin², Quenette L Walton³

Affiliations

¹ Assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare.
² Doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare and an assistant clinical professor in the social work program at the University of the Pacific.
³ Assistant professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work in Texas.

PMID: 33635199
DOI: 10.1001/amajethics.2021.183

Abstract

This article considers intergenerational trauma by drawing on the experience of a 37-year-old Black woman whose great-grandfather died as a result of involuntary involvement in the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Although she never met her great-grandfather, the abuse, exploitation, and human rights violations he suffered at the hands of the US government profoundly influenced her health experiences. This article contextualizes her experiences in light of past medical abuse and microethics.

MeSH terms

Adult
Black or African American
Decision Making
Family
Female
Human Rights
Humans
Male
Syphilis*