Patients and doctors have one major thing in common, sickness. The patients have the illness and the doctors treat the illness as necessary. In this instance, Vivian Bearing is the patient while the two research doctors treating her are Harvey Kelekian and Jason Posner. Each individual has their own needs, aspirations and goals to associate with in the play W;t, written by Margaret Edson. Because individuals are just that, individuals, each of these traits may either coincide or conflict with another character. Goals are logical and calculated, aspirations are emotional and inspirational, and needs cannot be avoided and are necessary to survival. Goals are typically about meeting, narrowing, and focusing on an outcome. Therefore, they can limit and create a narrow-minded approach of the world. On the other hand, aspirations are expansive and create new possibilities. There are more paths and options available, with a better sense of opportunities as they arise. Needs are finite things, motivating forces that compel action for satisfaction. There are two needs that coincide between patient and the researching doctors; one) being thorough when doing research and presenting information, two) the human relations aspect of their careers and lives. All three of them strive to have the most information possible shown as Bearing listens and dissects the terminology in an attempt to understand Kelekian and Posner describe the stage four ovarian cancer and the procedures that will follow her treatment. She also references books that she has read for information while listening to them. Kelekian and Posner examine her multiple times as her disease progresses to collect their data and Kelekian uses Bearing while teaching stu... ... middle of paper ... ...ject. His dedication to Dr. Kelekian and his job is so strong that Jason doesn’t realize how impersonal he is. They both want to keep patients alive but don’t take individual desires and feelings into account when directly interacting with them. Dr. Bearing approves of the way Dr. Posner conducts himself because she also has a strong appreciation for detail because of her academic work. Both Dr. Bearing and Dr. Kelekian agree that Posner has an excellent command of detail during the Grand Observations. (pg….) Dr. Bearing, Dr. Kelekian and Dr. Posner in Margaret Edson’s play W;t each have needs, goals and aspirations. Some of them are individually based, while some coincide with another character and with others they conflict with another character. No matter what, everything comes together to form a unique insight in to how each of the three doctors work and live.
Grant successfully managed to treat Mr. G she comes to the realization that a doctor should not judge a patient no matter how they may act, as each patient may have a reason for acting the way they do. Dr. Grant has managed to learn how to combine her own personal experience with her doctoral skills she had learned in medical schools. Dr Grant believes. “ …[A]fter twenty-eight years of schooling, my education continues, both inside and outside the classroom” ( 183). Mr. G was the key figure in changing Dr. Grants judgement. If Mr. G had not shed light onto why he was in the hospital and how he felt stripped of his freedom to Dr. Grant she probably would have just branded him as crazy, she probably would have done the same to similar patients. As Dr. Grant states, “ … I was proud of myself for having accomplished my task… I was proud of myself because I had decided not to prejudge Mr. G” (182). Mr. G exposing his true emotions to Dr. Grant was the reason that she learned that she should not judge unique patients but instead, she should try to communicate with them and better understand so she can better help
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
- Mrs. Dawson wants the healthcare team to do everything they possibly can to save her husband and live at home with him. The health care providers are divided; some of the members believe that he will recover and some believe additional treatment is prolonging the inevitable and perhaps causing Mr. Dawson more suffering.
Doctors are well respected within the realm of American society and are perceived with the highest regard as a profession. According to Gallup’s Honesty and Ethics in Profession polls, 67% of respondents believe that “the honesty and ethical standards” of medical doctors were “very high.” Furthermore, 88% of respondents polled by Harris Polls considered doctors to either “hold some” or a “great deal of prestige”. Consequently, these overwhelmingly positive views of the medical profession insinuate a myth of infallibility that envelops the physicians and the science they practice. Atul Gawande, in Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, provides an extensive view of the medical profession from both sides of the operating table
Throughout Rajiv Joseph’s play, Gruesome Playground Injuries, the two characters, Doug and Kayleen, sporadically meet throughout the course of 30 years due to injuries ranging from getting “beaten up pretty badly” (Joseph 31) to going into a “coma” (Joseph 27). The play starts out with the two characters first meeting in the school nurse’s office with injuries of their own. This is the start of a relationship that is full of pain and healing throughout the years. Told in a very unique structure of five year increments, the play shows how injuries, a reoccurring image that may be self-inflicted or inflicted upon one, bring the pair together when either is in a dire situation.
Allusions to illness and disease weave into every scene of the play, and can be found referenced
We begin to see her gain new insight into her problems after her encounters with fellow Posner. Vivian asks Posner, "Do you miss people?," (Edson, n.p). We begin to see how much Vivian has given away basic human contact because she'd rather be dealing with something she felt had more importance to her and now she sees Posner going down the same path she has. "The young doctor, like the senior scholar prefers to humanity. At the same time...the senior scholar, in her pathetic state as simpering victim...wishes the young doctor would take more interest in personal contact. Now, I suppose we shall see how the senior scholar...ruthlessly denied her simpering students...the touch of human kindness she now seeks," (Edson, n.p). During the latter half of the play, Dr. Bearing begins to shift away from her cold, wily ways. Vivian has been placed in a situation where she reevaluates her life and how much she wished she could've been a completely different person due to her negligence to accept other human beings that weren't on her intellectual
Does your head hurt, does your body ache, and how are your bowl movements? After a head to toe assessments, touching and prodding, the physician writes up a prescription and explains in a medical jargon the treatment plan. As the short consultation comes to a close, it’s wrapped up with the routine “Please schedule an appointment if there are no signs of improvement”. This specific experience often leaves the patient feeling the “medical gaze” of the physicians. Defined by good and good, the medical gaze is the physicians mentality of objectifying their patient to nothing more than a biological entity. Therefore it is believed that the medical gaze moves away from compassionate and empathetic care, thus leaving patients feeling disconnected from their physicians. In order to understand how the medical gaze has stemmed into patient care, I begin with observations of a Grand Round, lectures for the progress of continuing medical education of physicians. There are expectations of physicians to be informed of cutting edge medical procedures and biotechnology since it can result in a less aggressive and more efficient treatment plan of patients. As I witness the resident physician’s maturation of medical competence in during a Surgical Grand Round at UC Irvine Medical Center, it has shifted the paradigm of the medical gaze and explains how competence is a form of compassion and empathy in patient care.
Dr. Bearing, the protagonist of the play undergoes substantial changes in character before the end of the play. As discussed, the flashbacks show how unemotional Vivian was as a teacher. She, however, starts to notice the weaknesses in her character and makes changes to her character very friendly and sociable. This is facilitated by Jason, a doctor at the hospital who behaves the way she used to behave towards her students, and Susie, a nurse who is totally opposite to Jason in character. This change of character has been extensively used by the playwright to build her theme of redemption as Vivian is redeemed from arrogance and rudeness brought about by the excess value she attaches to intellect.
In the short story "The Loons", Margaret Laurence writes the story of Piquette Tonnerre. A half-Indian girl who grows up under harsh circumstances in a society that suppresses half-breeds. The story is told through another girl, Vanessa, who comes in contact with Piquette through her father. As the title suggests the story also includes a special type of birds, the loons, and we can see an obvious comparison between the loons and Piquette. The loons are very special creatures; they are man-shy and can only be heard at night when they start their cry-like calling. It is said that one that has heard the loons cry, will not ever forget it.
...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.
for the interpretation of the play. In this essay, I plan to analyse the role of
Wit is a potent and emotional play that chronicles the last few months of Vivian’s life. With Vivian’s cancer as the main theme, Wit effectively shows the gradual change of Vivian’s attitude towards cancer and the inhuman treatments from doctors. Wit narrates a story of Vivian Bearing, an accomplished English literature professor who is diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer. However, in order to complete a research, her doctor, Harvey Kalekian gives Vivian eight months of experimental chemotherapy without clearly explaining the treatments and serious side effects. In addition, Kelekian’s fellow, Jason, as a former student of Dr. Bearing, shows no respect to Vivian. Jason does not consider Vivian as a patient or as his former professor, but a research object of cancer treatment. The play Wit introduces binaries between patients and doctors, students and professors, life and death. Among these different polarities, the comparison between life and death shows the greatest tension and implies the real meaning of death to readers. Death is kind of a rebirth of life. Edson efficiently describes the tension between death and life by making use of antithesis mostly.
Setting goals is the most important thing you can do in your life. Without goal's you are going to have no direction, no ambition to be successful, no drive to stay in school, and trouble finding a career that will provide for you. Without these three things, achieving your goals is going to be one of the toughest tasks in the years to come.