- “Men are much more reticent about seeking medical attention.”
(Gender greatly impacts a persons decisions regarding medical care.)
- Industrialization and profit making of the medicine companies affects how patients are treated depending on their coverage and illness.
- Never talking about death or dying or what would happen after.
- Wanted people to see him as a human being for himself and not his disease.
- “Honeymoon from death”
- Looking at everyone who helped them as people not just tools benefited them and got them more care and help.
- Cheerful doctors?
Through Beth’s presentation, I realized something about myself that worried me. When hearing about the process she and her children had to go through I kept asking myself if I would be able to cope with losing my father or any family member, and the answer was no. Because I have never lost anyone, I have only had artificial encounters with death such as having to visit a sick family member at the hospital or hearing about someone I didn’t really know about die. Much like Beth’s older son, I feel as if not seeing someone in such a terrible state would be better for me because that sort of confrontation may affect me in a big way. The only difference is that I feel I would willingly not see whoever was sick to, as Beth said, preserve the memory of the person before that became ill and a shell of who they used to be. Despite my personal opinion of how my personality would handle something like this, in the end I would feel a need to see the person one last time because of the love I have for them.
Gender always affects how we make our decisions; not because of what body parts we have but because of the difference in how we think. In many things including health, this difference affects what we do because we have different gender roles that we unknowingly follow. Using my own father and myself as an example, I realize that if either of us is hurt or need medical attention, we turn it into a test of strength and endurance by foolishly telling ourselves and other that we “don’t need any help” because we “are fine.”
When I was hearing about the help they received and the multiple different medications that would have cost thousands of dollars they tried I wondered how about how lucky they were that they managed to get a government subsidy due to their lack of health insurance. Had they not received any of this help, all of the medicine and treatment would probably have been declined by an insurance company. How would Beth of felt if this occurred to her and how would it have affected her husband and family?
No comments:
Post a Comment