Medical Authority

Prominently featured in the mission statements of virtually of every medical school and medical institution in the world is the call for empathetic doctors. These institutions wish to train medical professionals that possess qualities of sympathy and compassion, and hospitals wish to employ health professionals that showcase similar qualities. The reality, however, is starkly different, as physicians, jaded by what they have seen in the medical world, lose the qualities that drove them to medicine in the first place. In Frank Huyler’s “The Blood of Strangers,” a collection of short stories from his time as a physician in the emergency room, Huyler uses the literary techniques of irony and imagery to depict the reality of the world of a medical professional. While Huyler provides several examples of both techniques in his accounts, moments from “A Difference of Opinion” and “The Secret” in particular stand out. Huyler uses irony and imagery in these two pieces to describe how medical professionals have lost their sense of compassion and empathy due to being jaded and desensitized by the awful incidents they have witnessed during their careers.

In the next stanza, the poet describes “A figure walking towards cloaked in blue/ Beeping/ Tubes/ Needles.” The poem addresses the routinely and monotonous aspect of being in the hospital for long periods of time. It is a critique of the biomedical model and how the hospital system is created where patients are tended to by multiple doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. The patients and healthcare professionals are unable to form a relationship that consists of what Kleinman describes as “empathetic witnessing” (Kleinman). Therefore, detachment between patient and health workers is developed and established, to which the patient cannot recognize or know the people assisting them. In addition, Grealy discusses this in her earliest accounts and appointments with doctors. She states that there is a layer of “condescension” and is an “endemic in the medical

Dr. Vincent Lam is a profound Canadian physician and writer. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures is his award winning novel that speaks on the reality of what it’s actually like to be in medical school aiming to be apart of a medical profession and the difficult expectations students must face while still managing to stay sane during those challenging years of their lives. It’s a collection of short stories partly based off of his experiences in the medical field, following the lives of fictional characters Ming, Fitzgerald, Chen, and Sri as they endure medical school and later work as doctors. Dr. Lam does a remarkable job at incorporating unique and compelling characters with intriguing storylines who face common and extraordinary moral dilemmas that seem to shape their overall characters. Lam introduces themes of love, fear, tradition, drugs, death, self doubt, duality, etc.

Selzer’s The Exact Location of the Soul captures the essence of being a physician by using first person point of view, a series of personal anecdotes, and such striking imagery.

Throughout our lives, we are plagued by the notion of ‘ethics’ or morals - the basis of our everyday behavior. The medical field is no exception, with doctors constantly reminded of the ethical duties they must carry out for each of their patients. An example of unethical doctors is demonstrated in Daniel Keyes’s short story, Flowers for Algernon. The story features Charlie Gordon, a man with an intellectual disability who strives to become smarter. He is a candidate for a new surgical procedure that is used to triple one’s intelligence which was directed by Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur. Although the procedure holds promise for helping a vast amount of people, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss acted unethically by selecting Charlie to undergo the operation because they did not finish testing the procedure and because Charlie was unable to make a proper decision.

Doctor Adams goes to a place distant from civilization to deliver a baby. Darkness, wilderness, and dirtiness are images presented throughout the story that apply to the appearance of the India Camp. The description of the Indian Camp highlights racial inequality between the two cultures. After Dr. Adams delivers the baby, he feels exalted: A word that connotates a rise in status, dignity, power, honor, and wealth (Strong 23). This usage of the text is an example of how Dr. Adams sees himself superior than everyone in the room. In addition, he has an immediate desire to record thee operation into the medical journal. His medical journal symbolizes an ultimate authority: a removed, consecrated sign of medical, legal, and institutional power (Strong 23).

This film offers the public an important piece of medical history through the telling of Thomas’ achievements in a way that is thought-provoking. Also, the social issues it raises, for example the relationship

The medicolegal system across the country has been set up with one goal in mind, knowing how and why a person died, and this has to be done in a way that allows no bias, adheres to standards and provides competency. While the general principle remains the same, the variety of this setup across the states leads to certain shortcomings.

ADHD, defiance disorder, pregnancy, these are just few of the things medicalized in the West (Davies 1995). With the rising prestige of Doctors in the 19th century, came a widening of the gap of knowledge between Doctors and the general population (Davies 1995). Doctors have kept a sort of lock on medical knowledge, enabling them to medicalize all sorts of “issues” aided by the idea of the medical mystique. But with the emergence of medicalization and cures that are being searched for by Doctors, a new problem has arisen. This fixation on curing illnesses has led to Doctors viewing patients as experiments and not as human beings, this is seen especially in technologically advanced societies as exemplified in the movie Wit. In addition to this new problem, there are clear establishments of hierarchy between medical professionals such as Doctors and nurses as well as the emotional detachments with the patients which can lead to patients feeling left out and alone.

Per the Board's Medical Officer, based on the information available for review at the time, the applicant's file and active duty electronic medical records contains evidence of a potentially mitigating behavioral health condition. The medical records show that the applicant was diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depression while deployed in March 2009. The PTSD diagnosis was mostly related to non-combat situations and events. However, the history did include some combat/deployment issues. According to a note dated 14 June 2011, the applicant had required inpatient treatment for PTSD and alcoholism upon returning from his deployment. Because PTSD can be associated with avoidance behavior, there is a possible nexus between the applicant's history

As a result of the dramatic point of view, Williams is able to hide an embedded lust for what is essentially rape within the doctor’s procedure that is “imperative” and must be done. Whence reading one can tell the opposition comes from William’s speaker who gives the reader a feeling of calmness in the professionalism of the doctor, only to later reveal the doctors true personality. An essential character in the story is the little girl who the doctor is checking for diphtheria, although not much more is revealed about the little girl. The point of view is also with other characters who do not contribute much to the script of the overall story. This is a removed way of making the doctor seem like a normal professional, seeking to aide others.

In “Doctors Without Orders”, the writer gave us the example of the failure of public health delivery. It cannot be denied that we only focused on innovation and specific need such as X-RAY machines, water, electricity, training, drugs, or the treatment when we talk about the health care delivery to poor courtiers. We invest billions on those requirements and forget to pay attention to good management. Ruxin gave us an idea how to apply the health care system in poor countries as a business which needs professional managers. He thought that to have a better health care delivery system, we need both business and communications experts along with well-trained health care providers. He mentioned the Global Healthcare Delivery Project (GHD) a new

The texts can also be categorized within the medical lens. Women and men were portrayed differently in medieval texts. Women were shown mostly as naked whereas men were clothed. Bennett discusses how women were seen as less than men, “As demi-humans, women needed to be incorporated into human (that is, male) society, and this was best accomplished through sex with men and marriage to them” (285). This brings up the question of how women were viewed in society and how men and the patriarchy were prominent. Women needed to marry men in order to become functioning members of society. Medically speaking, men had the so-called advantage of having the male seed that would impregnate the female and create potential heirs.

Doctors have the power of knowledge but with the help of the internet patients have access to medical information to understand or question the diagnosis of their doctor. The patient has power because they are a consumer of health care services without them the doctor has no job. The doctor has power because the patient cannot order tests, diagnose illness, or prescribe medication for them only a doctor with a license can (Burns, Bradley, & Weiner, 2011). Both the doctor and patient together have the power with their relationship to determine which direction the patient’s health care should take. Insurance companies have the power over the doctor and patient to either pay for medical services or deny them as not appropriate for the care of

This knowledge is what gives his collection of works an edge of other authors. Yet, it is not always necessary to give all the information at every moment. An accurately painted picture of the life within a hospital is something all medical thrillers thrive to have. Cook’s novel takes this a set farther making it feel like a novel of what to expect in medical school over a thrilling story. Yet again Robin Cook illustrates his medical skill at the expense of his writing