In this country, some people seriously question whether well meaning white Americans are culturally competent to treat sick African Americans or other nonwhites or illegal immigrants. Sane people say that an American of any color can probably figure out how to relate to another American, but may need some help figuring out the cultures the illegals fled from. Why is it okay, then, for foreign doctors to treat the captive group of desperately ill American citizens?? Why are mental patients, who by definition are vulnerable, need understanding, people who can read their signals, and communicate empathically, being treated by complete strangers??Included: a link to interesting statistics about doctor's religious beliefs, which are different from other scientists.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
What Doctors Believe
Hurry. Retriever admits it's a rant and may take it down when she thinks better of it. But it's an interesting rant, about whether the beliefs of doctors, particularly psychiatrists, should be considered important.
Thanks for the link...Shrinkwrapped responded to it with some good analytical comments http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2010/11/does-it-matter-what-a-doctor-believes-a-response.html
ReplyDeleteSo even a rant can have its uses... :)
Of course it, like the monster Advent post at RN, are all just monumental exercises in avoiding the final drafting and editing of that book chapter with the deadline this week. Why do I still feel like a 20 year old struggling to finish a paper on time?
Fundamentally, I think the primary issue with psychiatrists is that they take too much at face value the societal taboo on physical violence.
ReplyDeleteThey don't treat it as a tool, but as always something to be avoided.
This will always mean that they become ineffective at dealing with situations and cultures which recognize the inherent truth of physical violence.