Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 7, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Openness to Others: The Task of Translating Palliative Carefor China
1Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. eric_krakauer@hms.harvard.edu.
Abstract:
The German philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died attempting to cross a border to escape persecution, described both the impossibility and the possibilities of translation[ 1]. The impossibility is implicit in the very title of Benjamin's essay, Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers. The German word Aufgabe can mean "task" or "endeavor" but also a "giving up" or "surrender." There is no English word that conveys the ambiguities and nuances of Aufgabe. And as I write this, I am aware that translating my English sentences into Chinese will create new impossibilities. But the impossibility of "true" or "literal" translation also opens new possibilities, for interpretation, adaptation, and (re)creation of new meaning. The same holds for translating palliative care: both the term and the discipline or practice.
Related Concept Videos
Continuing Care
Patient-centered Care
Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's...
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Techniques of therapeutic communication I: Active Listening, Sharing Observations, Validation, and Using Touch
Therapeutic communication is not the same as social interaction. Social interaction has no goal or purpose and consists of casual information sharing, whereas therapeutic communication has a plan or purpose for the conversation. Therapeutic...
Documentation in Long-Term and Home Healthcare Setting
Long-Term Care Facilities
