Eric Jonathan Cassell (August 29, 1928September 24, 2021) was an American physician and
bioethicist
Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...
.
Early life and education
Eric Jonathan Goldstein was born on August 29, 1928, in New York City.
He and his brother changed their surname to Cassell to render it closer to their grandfather's name, which was changed at
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...
.
He received a BS from
Queens College, City University of New York
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body ...
, in 1950, an MA from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, also in 1950, and an MD from
New York University School of Medicine
NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...
in 1954.
Career
Cassell taught at
Cornell University Medical College
The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York.
Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with New ...
and
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City. It is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which manages eigh ...
, and practiced at
French Hospital and
New York Hospital
Weill Cornell Medical Center (previously known as New York Hospital or Old New York Hospital or City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is part of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the teaching hospital for Cornell University.
...
. He was elected a member of the
National Academy of Medicine
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...
in 1982.
According to a 2019 critical review of Cassell's work, his views on the nature of
suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of a ...
were "close to canonical" in the medical community.
Cassell advanced a subjective view of suffering, according to which the condition must be understood by reference to the beliefs and perceptions of the person experiencing it.
In 2001, Cassell published a study in ''
Annals of Internal Medicine
''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content relevan ...
'' that assessed the
decision-making
In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be ...
capacity of severely ill adults, finding that their decision-making abilities were similar to those of children under 10. Commenting on his findings, Cassell stated, "I think it's grossly unfair and I actually think it's an abuse of a patient to put someone in a position to make decisions when they don't have the capacity to make them."
Cassell died on September 24, 2021, in
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...
.
Books
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[Reviews of ''The Nature of Healing'':
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Further reading
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassell, Eric Jonathan
1928 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American physicians
21st-century American physicians
Bioethicists
Columbia University alumni
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni
Queens College, City University of New York alumni
Physicians from New York City