Oliver Sacks, a professor at Columbia University Medical Center, Has written many case studies in the past but his best-seller is The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. This story is about Dr. P a well-known musician and music teacher. Dr. P started seeing a problem after a bit where he would not be able to see his student’s faces but can still hear them. Then he started to see faces where there should be none which led to many embarrassing & humorous moments. Sine Dr. P did not feel ill he thought nothing of it until he realized he had diabetes which can effect a person’s eyes. Dr. P originally went to a normal doctor to check his eyes to which the doctor said they were fine but his visual part of his brain was off so he sent him to Oliver …show more content…
Sacks. When Dr.
P arrived at Dr. Sacks office he seemed like any other well-mannered individual but Dr. Sacks noticed that Dr. P didn’t focus on his face only some small features around it. Dr. Sacks asked Dr. P what was wrong only to be told that nothing was wrong but he just makes mistakes every now and then. After talking to Dr. P’s wife Dr. Sacks performed a neurological exam which he noticed something wrong with his left side. After doing a reflex test on Dr. P’s foot he asked him to put his shoe back on while prepared the ophthalmoscope. When Dr. Sacks returned Dr. P did not put his shoes back on because he confused his foot with his shoe and visa-versa.
Dr. Sacks then check his eye sight which turned out fairly well except if an object was put on his left side he would miss it at times. Dr. Sacks then showed him pictures from a national geographic book to which Dr. P only looked at small details, never the whole image. Dr. P then goes to make up his own details in a picture of a dessert that lacked details. Afterword’s Dr. P reached for his wife’s hand and put it on his head thinking his wife was a hat. Dr. Sacks then made a house visit to Dr. P where Dr. Sacks saw that the music school did not keep him employed for
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charity. Dr. Sacks then tested Dr. P’s eye sight again finding out that he can tell abstract shapes and playing card faces right. Dr. P also did well in recognizing cartoon’s but failed to recognize people on the TV with the volume off. Dr. Sacks thought maybe it was because he did not know the people on the screen o which he gathered pictured from around his house and came to realize that Dr. P could not recognize them either. Dr. P could only identify three people out of the gathered photos and the only reason he could was because he saw some defining details. Dr. Sacks then handed Dr. P a rose to which he examined like a specimen not a flower. Dr. P could not tell what it was until Dr. Sacks asked him to smell it to which Dr. P finally realized it was a rose. After more tests Dr.
Sacks realized that Dr. P had difficulty identify things on his left perspective and could not see anything without detail. Dr. Sacks then came to realize that Dr. P can remember noises very well and can imagine things fine. Dr. P did not relies there was something wrong with his visit merely ignoring the absence of things. Dr. sacsk then asked his wife how Dr. p was able to do anything on his own which she replied saying that he cannot do anything without making it a song. Dr. P’s wife goes on to say that if he is interrupted during his song he stops completely unable to see his task at hand until he returns back to singing. Dr. Sacks then noticed some paintings on the walls made by Dr. P which seemed to go in order showing his early work with very detailed images and emotions. Dr. P’s latest panting was more abstract and cubic which was nothing like his earlier
work. Dr. P then asked Dr. Sacks what he though was wrong and what he should do to make it better. Dr. Sacks just said that he should make music his life and that he would not tell him what was wrong. Dr. P had managed to lose his visuals and replaced it with music. Dr. P went to teach and live by music up to his final days. `Dr. P is interesting because it makes you wonder how he does see the world. Does the music help define detail or if the music allows his environment to be seen. It was stated before that if the music in his head stopped that he cannot identify anything until it restarts. I would think it would be very difficult to relate to others since you would not be able to make out body language well. You would not be able to tell someone’s emotion from they’re face either making interactions very difficult.
In her personal essay, Dr. Grant writes that she learned that most cases involving her patients should not be only handled from a doctor’s point of view but also from personal experience that can help her relate to each patient regardless of their background; Dr. Grant was taught this lesson when she came face to face with a unique patient. Throughout her essay, Dr. Grant writes about how she came to contact with a patient she had nicknamed Mr. G. According to Dr. Grant, “Mr. G is the personification of the irate, belligerent patient that you always dread dealing with because he is usually implacable” (181). It is evident that Dr. Grant lets her position as a doctor greatly impact her judgement placed on her patients, this is supported as she nicknamed the current patient Mr.G . To deal with Mr. G, Dr. Grant resorts to using all the skills she
One night as he is working late, he is called to the Chief Executive’s office. The Chief bestows his confidence and trust in him by giving him the responsibility over a crucial case and announces his promotion as Senior Associate. After the announcement has been made, one of the senior executives notices an AIDS lesion on Andrew’s forehead. He asks Andrew about it. Andrew was momentarily disturbed by the question, then quickly explained that he had bumped his head.
“When Doctors Make Mistakes” narrates an event where the author Atul Gawande, a doctor, made a mistake that cost a women her life. He relates that it is hard to talk about the mistakes that occurred with the patient's family lest it be brought up in court. In that instance the family and doctor are either wrong or right, there is no middle ground in a “black-and-white mortality case”(658). Even the most educated doctors make simple mistakes that hold immense consequences but can only speak about them with fellow doctors during a Morbidity and Mortality Conference.
In the essay “When Doctors Make Mistakes” written by Atul Gawande, he writes a first-hand account of mistakes made by himself and his colleagues. The essay is divided into five parts, each named to the narrative and emotions of the story he would tell. In each story he tells, he uses such vivid language that we as readers feel as if we are one of his colleagues. Each section has its own importance to the whole point he was trying to get across, ““All doctors make terrible mistakes” (657).
The Power of Mistakes Atul Gawande is not only our resident surgeon; he’s also a patient himself. He’s anxious before performing surgery, he dwells on mistakes, and he has emotions: he’s human and he understands us. However, he does not appear to share concerns with his patients initially. Gawande experiences a long, drawn-out development from a young medical student to the doctor he is today. This process of identifying with patients is evident in his anthology of essays, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science.
The first short story is called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Dr. P is a musician who had problems with his visual images. He could not recognize common objects like his wife or his shoes,
Williams is a superb writer, and uses his skill to portray different situations in which doctors analyze the human conditions through observation. Each story showcases a different viewpoint. Each story is made from the observation of an individual doctor and not of many, so the views expressed are solely dependent on the writer.
In the following context, the seriousness of the stories and their interpretative breakdowns should only cause a better understanding of how the ever-so-questionable human mind truly works from a professional perspective put into simple words. The story of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" is quite an interesting story that opens the reader of the book into a world of confusion: Dr. P.'s world. The man, described in the story, is an accomplished doctor, in fact a teacher at an accomplished music school who seems to be fine on the outside, but with further analyses in Dr. Sacks' office, he mistakes his foot for his shoe. This is an astonishing mistake that intrigues the doctor and the reader to know why he mistakes objects for other objects. He then later, as he and his wife are preparing to leave; Dr. P. grabs his wife's head and tries to pull it off as if it were his hat.
“Then with a certain eagerness [the doctor] asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised…he produced a thing like calipers. ‘I [the doctor] always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there [the African jungle].’…He gave me a searching glance, and made another note. ‘Ever any madness in your family?’ he asked, in a matter-of-fact tome. I felt very annoyed. ‘Is that question in the interests of science, too?’” (Conrad 13).
The major challenge was poor communication with both physicians and nurses. Usually, the conversations between Shapiro and his medical staff were brief and emotionless. The communication was just a delivery of the information without any empathy and no connection with a patient. One of the first examples that Shapiro brings to our attention is when he describes his communication with one of his night nurses. There was minimal communication between the night nurse and Shapiro; she would simply come within his personal space to do her job and nothing else. Even though Shapiro made various efforts to initiate a conversation with this nurse, as the reader, I realized how invisible Shapiro must have felt since this nurse did not make the effort to communicate with Shapiro.
The doctor contains his professionalism, but as it goes on, pieces of frustrated irregularities begin to surface. As the doctor learns that the parents say no, that the girl says she doesn’t have a sore throat, he purs...
...l get cured. On the other hand, the judge acts the same way. He decides whether or not if accused is innocent or guilty. The judge has complete power over the accused that come to his court. He can make them live or die. Going on, the physician is represented the judge through this tale as they have similar traits.
James Herriot has a tremendous memory of all the signs, symptoms, medications, diseases, and sicknesses concerning animals. This helps him very much throughout his career. He remembers thinking to himself about a horse reference book, “I had gone through it so often in my mind final year that I could recite stretches of it like poetry.”(1) He is able to deduct a patient’s problem without even needing an x-ray, or anything of that sort. In one situation, a bull was in danger of dying, and no one knew what was wrong. Herriot felt the rays of sun on his face and knew then that the bull had sun-stroke, and when asked, the owner told him he had put the bull out to pasture for a long length of time. James Herriot also understood his employer, Farnon, well. He knew when to steer clear, and when to ask him for advice and guidance. Herriot said: “I could read his mind without much trouble.”(2)
Charles Dickens shows notable amounts of originality and morality in his novels, making him one of the most renowned novelists of the Victorian Era and immortalizing him through his great novels and short stories. One of the reasons his work has been so popular is because his novels reflect the issues of the Victorian era, such as the great indifference of many Victorians to the plight of the poor. The reformation of the Poor Law 1834 brings even more unavoidable problems to the poor. The Poor Law of 1834 allows the poor to receive public assistance only through established workhouses, causing those in debt to be sent to prison. Unable to pay debts, new levels of poverty are created. Because of personal childhood experiences with debt, poverty, and child labor, Dickens recognizes these issues with a sympathetic yet critical eye. Dickens notices that England's politicians and people of the upper class try to solve the growing problem of poverty through the Poor Laws and what they presume to be charitable causes, but Dickens knows that these things will not be successful; in fact they are often inhumane. Dickens' view of poverty and the abuse of the poor
Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, centers itself around the life of the young, orphan Oliver, but he is not a deeply developed character. He stays the same throughout the entire novel. He has a desire to be protected, he wants to be in a safe and secure environment, and he shows unconditional love and acceptance to the people around him. These are the only character traits that the reader knows of Oliver. He is an archetype of goodness and innocence. His innocence draws many people close to him. Each character is attracted to his innocence for different reasons, some to destroy it and others to build it. Their relationships with Oliver reveal nothing more about his personality. They reveal more about their own personalities. Therefore, Oliver is used not as the protagonist of the story, but as the anchor for the development of the other characters.