Dr. Rachel Pearson’s No Apparent Distress is a memoir about her personal life and her journey in the medical field. All the events that transpire in Pearson’s life shape her into “Who she is” as a doctor and more importantly as a woman. The people she meets and the things she experiences give her a different outlook on life and further change her into a more mature and adept doctor. Throughout the book Pearson’s relationships with her patients, family, and peers mold her into who she is as a doctor.
From the time she spent at the abortion clinic to working at St Vincent’s, Pearson had always connected with her patients. This aspect of her personality is what separates her from other doctors. Pearson was not like the average medical students;
…show more content…
While she is studying pre-med, Pearson's closest friend is frank. Pearson and frank were similar in the fact that they were both different. They were not the ordinary medical students. They struggled with science and they felt more bright and animated than the other students. Unfortunately Frank’s suicide deeply affected Rachel. She battled with depression. Although she struggled, she used this troubling event to better herself. She persevered despite the hardship and continued her education in medicine. This defines who she is. Despite not being a natural born doctor and facing hardships, Rachel fought through it and became a better doctor and person because of it.
Although they did not have a lot of money, Pearson’s parents supported her immensely. Her father was a dedicated blue-collar worker who worked diligently to provide for his family. Pearson’s father encouraged her to take up pre-med before she even wanted to. Her father was always there for her especially in her time of need. He gave her the support she needed to move on the suicide of her best friend Frank. She needed this support to continue her education in medicine.
Rachel Pearson’s memoir outlines the events in her life that have affected her in some way or another. She shows how her relationships and experiences define her as a doctor. In the beginning of the book she does not even want to be a doctor. As she meets new people and things change, so does her mentality and she strives for greatness in the medical
In the passage “The chem 20 factor” by Ellen Goodman explains the long process and hardships of what it takes to become a doctor, she explains how it all starts with Chem 20 and how all the Pre-med students say “Every class is a combat mission” this just goes to show that Ellen Goodman can connect with the readers because she has her own experiences with the same struggles which can really grab the attention of the reader to connect and feel the same way she does.
Even in the medical field, male doctors were dominate to the hundreds of well educated midwives. “Male physicians are easily identified in town records and even in Martha’s diary, by the title “Doctor.” No local woman can be discovered that way” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.61). Martha was a part of this demoralized group of laborers. Unfortunately for her, “in twentieth-century terms, the ability to prescribe and dispense medicine made Martha a physician, while practical knowledge of gargles, bandages, poultices and clisters, as well as willingness to give extended care, defined her as a nurse” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.58). In her diary she even portrays doctors, not midwives, as inconsequential in a few medical
Almost doctors and physicians in the world have worked at a hospital, so they must know many patients’ circumstances. They have to do many medical treatments when the patients come to the emergency room. It looks like horror films with many torture scenes, and the patients have to pay for their pains. The doctors have to give the decisions for every circumstance, so they are very stressful. They just want to die instead of suffering those medical treatments. In that time, the patients’ family just believes in the doctors and tells them to do whatever they can, but the doctors just do something that 's possible. Almost patients have died after that expensive medical treatments, but the doctors still do those medical procedures. That doctors did not have enough confidence to tell the truth to the patients’ families. Other doctors have more confidence, so they explain the health condition to the patients’ families. One time, the author could not save his patient, and the patient had found another doctor to help her. That doctor decided to cut her legs, but the patient still died in fourteen days
This quote centers Henrietta Lacks’ story around the same questions that have driven the Doctoring course: What does it mean to care for others? And how do we ensure that we care for our patients first as people, rather than as a disease? In many ways, Henrietta Lacks’ story is a textbook case in how not to be a good physician. In examining and learning from her story through the lens of Doctoring, we can inform our own practice and
It has become evident, more so in our day and age, that children often feel burdened by the expectations that one’s parents have. Blinded by their own pretences, parents pressure their children to follow a path which they themselves think is best. As seen in “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod, the narrator endures a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents. In comparison to my own life, my parents also put a lot of pressure on me because they want me to be successful. However, I find that the pressure exerted by my parents onto me is not helpful at all. To start, pressure often leads to stress, which then leads to long term complications such as anxiety and depression. Ever since I was young, my parents have wanted me to pursue a career in medicine. I was not very happy as it was not a field that I found
She would mostly be alone and sit by herself being buried in books or watching cartoons. In high school she attended a program for troubled adolescents and from there she received a wide range of support from helping her get braces to helping her get information to attend community college. (59) Even with this she was already too emotionally unstable due to her family issues and felt like she couldn’t go through with her dreams to travel and even go into the art of culinary. She suffers from psychological problems such as depression and worries constantly about almost every aspect in her life from work to family to her boyfriend and just hopes that her life won’t go downhill. (60) Overall Kayla’s family structure shows how different is it now from it was in the 1950’s as divorce rates have risen and while before Kayla’s type of family structure was rare now it is becoming more common. This story helps illustrate the contributions of stress that children possess growing up in difficult homes in which they can’t put their own futures first they must, in some cases, take care of their guardian’s futures first or others around them. Again, this adds into the inequality that many face when it comes to being able to climb up the ladder and become successful regardless of where one
As a little girl, she first found her life’s calling when she took care of her brother David after an accident. He had been helping to build a barn when he flipped and fell to the ground. Doctors had come to help, but he did not get any better. Eleven year-old Clara became David's nurse, administering his medicine and even applying and removing leeches when the doctors suggested it might help. Clara stayed home from school for two years to take care of her brothe...
This internal conflict is a result of the mistakes a physician makes, and the ability to move on from it is regarded as almost unreachable. For example, in the essay, “When Doctors Make Mistakes”, Gawande is standing over his patient Louise Williams, viewing her “lips blue, her throat swollen, bloody, and suddenly closed passage” (73). The imagery of the patient’s lifeless body gives a larger meaning to the doctor’s daily preoccupations. Gawande’s use of morbid language helps the reader identify that death is, unfortunately, a facet of a physician’s career. However, Gawande does not leave the reader to ponder of what emotions went through him after witnessing the loss of his patient. He writes, “Perhaps a backup suction device should always be at hand, and better light more easily available. Perhaps the institutions could have trained me better for such crises” (“When Doctors Make Mistakes” 73). The repetition of “perhaps” only epitomizes the inability to move on from making a mistake. However, this repetitive language also demonstrates the ends a doctor will meet to save a patient’s life (73). Therefore, it is not the doctor, but medicine itself that can be seen as the gateway from life to death or vice versa. Although the limitations of medicine can allow for the death of a patient to occur, a doctor will still experience emotional turmoil after losing someone he was trying to
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from medical school. After being rejected from multiple schools, she was finally accepted into the Geneva Medical College (Markel). Although it must have been very difficult, Elisabeth’s headstrong attitude pushed
Despite the toll the job takes on her, Sara always sees the good things in life. This is due to two very loving parents, Sara claims. Sara refers to both of her parents as her main support system. They are also the people who have made the greatest influence on her life. “They have helped me through all of the hard times,” She told me proudly, “but they have shown me how to be a
The college life of Doctor Rosen isn’t anything spectacular, but it does show how one wacky curly headed graduate student could sweep through the challenges of college with flying colors. Her passion behind her research really gave her the extra initiative she needed to get through some of her most difficult days along with the support of her friends and boyfriend. She stood firm in her studies, and she says having the title of doctor attached to her name was her best day. Everyone has a different story of how to reach their career but this is how to become a doctor in the walk of Doctor Rosen’s shoes.
Morace, Robert A. “Interpreter of Maladies: Stories.” Magill’s Literary Annual 2000 1999: 198. Literary Reference Center. Web. 6 Apr. 2010. .
As the story begins, the unnamed doctor is introduced as one who appears to be strictly professional. “Aas often, in such cases, they weren’t telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that’s why they were spending three dollars on me.” (par. 3) The doctor leaves the first impression that he is one that keeps his attention about the job and nothing out of the ordinary besides stating his impressions on the mother, father and the patient, Mathilda. Though he does manage to note that Mathilda has a fever. The doctor takes what he considers a “trial shot” and “point of departure” by inquiring what he suspects is a sore throat (par. 6). This point in the story, nothing remains out of the ordinary or questionable about the doctor’s methods, until the story further develops.
...to doctor affected her relationship with her dad. They got closer and she was surprise that when her dad heard the news from his doctor, they didn’t have to tie him down in fact of his aggressive behavior “I sat beside him. This was my father” (Olds 440). She was expecting her dad to act crazy since she had always known him as an aggressive person but she did not get that from him. However, his attitude changed instantly and starts and the way her daughter viewed him as an alcoholic changed her perception of her dad.
At the age of 36, mom decided to return back to college to obtain her nursing degree. This wasn’t a hard decision for her to make. The April before she enrolled in school my great grandmother passed away. This major dilemma played a major role in mom’s returning back to school. She had taken care of my great grandmother for months before she passed away, and decided that she wanted to make an impact on the lives of geriatrics.