week of 4/15 (medicine and health care as a social institution)
This week, our discussion focused on the institution of healthcare itself, including the development of the modern hospital and morality in the ICU. While I was reading the section and listening to the discussion, my thoughts were on how crazy it was that capitalism had such a huge impact in the development of the modern hospital. Antebellum hospitals went from a system of bartering and caring for the extremely poor to one that incorporates money transactions for people that could afford the increasing costs of treatment. Of course technological advances and increasing knowledge from professionals also played a role in the rise of the modern hospital, but capitalism had an equal role in changing attitudes of people to shift from their homes to the hospital. Another aspect I found interesting was the transition from the dominance from a mostly wealthy, white male staff to a more diversified staff of both sexes and different races. People like my mother, aunts, or grandparents who had been or currently are physicians wouldn’t have had a chance at their professions in early hospitals in 19th century America due to the lack of diversity and specialization. In the discussion about the ICU, I found it shocking that doctors don’t ask for a patient’s medical history as it makes it seems like the patient is an object to them in a dehumanizing way. I feel like the negative characterizations that ICU doctors and nurses give to patients definitely affect the quality of care they receive in ways that can be detrimental to their well-being. Maybe they don’t want to get too attached to patients in case they lose their lives but shouldn’t be not too distant in the sense that they are indifferent to their suffering. As someone who has had family in the ICU, I feel the pain that other feel when they see their loved ones not being treated well by doctors and nurses. However, this isn’t always the case as I’ve heard of small acts of kindness by some nurses and doctors such as tying a bow in the hair of an elderly women and putting up pictures on the wall to make the patient feel more at home.