Gawande, "Crimson Tide"

Discussion questions: Gawande, "Crimson Tide" (first publ. 2001)

1. The case study of Christine Drury occupies far more space in this essay than is typical of Gawande's essays. Does that strengthen the essay? Or would it be stronger if it included more medical information, other case studies, or interviews with the Göteborg doctors? Why do you think he wrote it the way he did?

2. Severe blushing remains a medical mystery—both why it happens to some people and why the ETS operation helps some sufferers. What questions or hypotheses might a researcher want to consider when trying to solve either mystery?

3. What physical reactions to embarrassment or public attention or other stress have you experienced? How far would you be willing to go to eliminate such reactions?

4. If it's true that embarrassment is a "moral emotion" that serves some good (150-51), would the world be a worse place if ETS surgery becomes common? Could we make the world a better place if we could create some universal physical reaction that would reveal when someone is, for example, lying or acting pathologically? Would doing so be ethical?