In Richard Selzer’s piece on the Exact Location of the Soul, he makes several important points that highlight the way that many surgeons may feel. He introduces the piece by posing the question about why would a surgeon write and giving the most common answers that most “outsiders”, people who aren’t surgeons may see. Eventually he settles on the fact that it is to “search for something meaningful” in surgery which he describes as “murderous, painful, healing, and full of love”. I found that this phrase was interesting because it seemed to imply that surgeons see writing as an escape, a way to justify the horrors or other feelings that they may experience when they perform surgeries. On the other hand the phrase itself of being murderous but also healing and full of love seems very obscure in the sense that generally events that are described as murderous aren’t healing at the same time. Selzer’s use of these phrases emphasizes the complex nature of surgeries.
It was interesting that initially Selzer claimed that the “poet is the only true doctor” however, later on he says that writing about doctors “must be done by
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He references the story of Don Immanuel, a saint who eventually became an atheist because his own faith “left him”. Later on, he talks about how he wants to “find the exact location of the soul” and how he was determined he had found it when he removed an abscess from a patient’s arm. But eventually after removing the abscess he is told that the abscess was actually as a result of a botfly and would have come out on its own. In my opinion, Selzer adds this story to make the point that surgeons can’t always save the world and in reality finding the “exact location of the soul” is akin to finding the fountain of youth. People look for it their whole life but more often than not don’t find
The writing style of the author is quite interesting to me. Atul Gawande’s honesty, a major aspect of his writing style, beautifully highlights the good and bad of any medical profession. For example, Gawande’s argument over the use of patients for resident training
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
In the book Complications, Atul writes about his experiences as a surgical residents and demonstrates a point of view of surgery that does not idealize it, but instead displays the actual pressure and complexity it actually is. Atul Gawande speaks to fellow surgeons, surgeons to be or simply those who believe that the study of surgery is just memorizing procedures, nonetheless it’s so much more complex due to the fact that every case that arrives is different. He is able to portray the complexity of surgery by putting his readers in heart racing situations faced by doctors, explaining step by step procedures, giving his personal stories of cases he has assisted in at the hospital as a resident. Atul Gawande appeals to his reader’s attitude
Resection was a process that “involved cutting open the limb, sawing out the damaged bone, and then closing the incision” (Jones, 1). Resection allows the patient to keep his limbs but it requires a great ordeal of time and skill. This also contributed to the common practice of amputation during the war. But there were cases where surgeons did use this method. Terry J. Jones said in his NY Times article, “resections were used more frequently after surgeons learned that amputations had a much higher mortality rate” (Jones, 1). In another article by Corydon Ireland, it describes Mitchell Adam’s, a Harvard lecturer, grandfather who served as a volunteer surgeon during the Civil War. In the article, “Adams was not a champion of hasty amputations, but argued for excision and other limb-saving measures. And he describes the everyday pressures of a country practice in Framingham, Mass” (Ireland, 1). This meant that not all surgeons at the time only wanted to amputate but strived for alternate methods. This new knowledge shows that some surgeons were more dedicated to thinking about the well-being of their patients than others and this opens up to other possibilities that may have occurred during the war. This allows an image to come to mind of a surgeon diligently operating on a soldier with care and compassion. However, even though there may be many possibilities, we can’t truly know every event that occurs during a
Sinclair Lewis uses the education of Martin Arrowsmith as a means of examining whether medical universities should be dedicated primarily to teaching or to research. This specific argument is exemplified by the fictional University of Winnemac, where there is an atmosphere that is relatively hostile towards the research Gottlieb and Martin wish to pursue. Gottlieb is generally dismissed as “unconscious of the world,” “an old laboratory plug,” “a ‘crapehanger’ who wasted time destroying the theories of others instead of making new ones of his own” (Lewis 10, 35, 9). He is forced to waste his time teaching elementary bacteriology to students who are not interested, while Arrowsmith is forced to waste his time taking classes unrelated to the research he loves. Martin’s lack of interest in his classes seems to say that rather than take a wide variety of science classes medical students who wish to pursue research should be allowed only to take classes needed for research. Lewis’ portrayal of Gottlieb’s l...
Diligence is a virtue. This is a theme Atul Gawande presents to the reader throughout Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance. In each story, Gawande provides insight on medical studies he has previously embarked upon. For example, in “The Mop-up” the author tells us about a time when he went to India to observe the efforts to eradicate polio. Gawande explains how he followed a supervisor around and how vaccinations were performed. Additionally, in another chapter he debates on whether physicians should take part in death sentences. Throughout his adventures Gawande provides numerous enriching personal accounts of controversial events and what it is like to be a doctor; each with diligence playing a key part.
Abortion is a tremendous issue in our society today. As well as the article “Abortion” by Selzer, I have also read Mortal Lessons, a book he had also written. Selzer is an author who wrote in order to describe “unsparingly the surgeon’s art, opening up the body to view one part at a time.” The article “Abortion” classifies him as a doctor, but the way in which he writes makes him a philosopher as well. Selzer not only writes about the physical aspects of surgery, but also the emotional and psychological sides that agree with it.
There are many different themes in, “Love Medicine” a book written by Louise Erdrich. Some of which are poverty, family, racism, and religion. The one that I am going to write about, is love. Love is one of the most prominent themes in this book. It conveys a mother’s love for her children, a wife’s love for her husband, and a son’s love for the ones whom he perceives his parents to be. This is but to name a few examples of love found in the book by Ms. Erdrich. However, there is also the lack of love that this work of literature portrays. There is mistreatment and betrayal, which are examples that are opposite of love.
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
... the Madman, I have learned that redemption is possible, even given the most hopeless circumstances. After Minor committed a horrible crime, he fell from grace and lost his integrity. The once highly esteemed surgeon was reduced to being referred to as, “Poor Dr. Minor” (Winchester 161). Yet he was able to find restitution in contributing to the Oxford English Dictionary. He discovered a sense of purpose, in helping create the work, while he was locked away, isolated, and disheartened. Doctor Minor’s story is not solely a tale of murder and insanity, but also a message about hope and redemption.
Marks, J. H. (2005, December 26). The silence of the doctors. The Nation, 26. Retrieved June 6, 2011, from PsycINFO.
Furthermore, Sexton also makes a great point in that “doctors should fear arrogance;” which is my favorite part of the poem because I believe that all healthcare workers are overly confident. Whether it be a doctor who may think he/she
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
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.
American society , his personal experiences and perceptions formed on the basis of those experiences.