This paper describes a qualitative study of the processes employed within a genetic counselling consultation. These processes, it is argued, can be seen to provide the patient with a genetic identity. But unlike the new identity conferred by the diagnosis of many chronic medical conditions a...

Since about 1960 a socio-medical literature has emerged which asserts the importance of truth in the dialogue between dying patient and medical attendant; at the same time the former regime of silence is condemned. This paper argues against the implication that truth and silence are in...

The Woodrising farming business has developed from a grazing operation based on a relatively small soldier settlement block in Northern Tasmania. The expansion and diversification has entailed: Purchase of additional land. Leasing land for cropping, for short (seasonal) and long (3-5 year)...

This paper considers the implications of genetic testing in the case of familial hypercholesterolaemia, drawing on twenty semi-structured interviews with general practitioners (family doctors in primary care), nurses and specialists in hospital clinics (secondary care) in the UK. Though these...

Psychiatry has provided primary care physicians with tools for recognising and labelling mild, moderate or severe 'depression'. General practitioners (GPs) in the UK have been guided to manage depression within primary care and to prescribe anti-depressants as a first-line treatment. The present...