When reading this online news article found here, I couldn’t believe that there was a lack of proper sewage disposal in a developed country like the US. There was “raw sewage flows from homes” and a lack to basic services for the people living in this small town. Unfortunately, the people that live in this region are people who don’t make enough money to live in a healthier environment with a median household income of 30,000 USD. Most of the people living in this black belt region are African Americans and have faced discrimination.
Do Not Resuscitate: a Follow-Up to Implied Consent
In one of my last couple of blog posts, I discussed the topic of implied consent in the context of DUIs. Essentially, if you deny a breathalyzer test, you may not be charged with a DUI, but your driver’s license can be suspended for 6-months and you may be fined $500. However, implied consent refers to more than just potential cases of DUIs. In many cases, especially when emergency health services are called upon, this type of consent is relevant. If the patient is unconscious or unresponsive, medical professionals will typically take all measures to ensure the patient survives with or without his or her consent.
Continue reading “Do Not Resuscitate: a Follow-Up to Implied Consent”
Cultivating Community
In Genna’s Recent blog post, which can be found here, she gave several good thoughts on the collaborative project. She started her article by referring to the article we looked at in the beginning of the semester, and within the article is said “all college student should have education experiences that teach them how to solve problems with people whose views are different from their own”. Going off of this quote from the article in Genna’s post, I agree with her when she said that this final collaborative project provides a great example of the quote, and I wanted to share a little bit from a Cultivating Community Event I went to a few weeks ago that relates to our project as well.
Cultivating Community is an event in which group discussion was held on “bubbles”, which essentially are known as identity markers, and how to merge those bubbles or identities to accomplish a task. In the group discussion, one thing that way brought up was that people have the language skills to communicate good and thoughtful information, but they don’t have the power to communicate what they are feeling. This relates to our collaborative final project in the aspect of giving people the power to say what they are feeling. In the first group session in this class, the discussion was solid, but they have improved greatly since then. There are many more people contributing in groups, bouncing off of each others ideas. Another reason why people are communicating more is because we all feel for the subjects and have opinions on them. In the cultivating community group discussion, we also talked about how a person has to experience or feel something to produce language. If you look at this course, we all felt something when reading the horrific encounters described in “Fourtune’s Bones” and “Medical Apartheid”, which gives us a voice to exclaim in group discussion. Lastly, we talked about how awareness of these differences in identities and beliefs leads to change. I know personally this project has shown me how to respect and value what other people have to say. I have heard insightful things in every group discussion that has helped be learn to do it. As you can see, there are several ways in which Cultivating Community can be related to both our journey in this course as well as our final collaborative project.
SOCL 240 + ENGL 101
While I was working on the blog posts in the library I was sitting with one of my good friends, Jordan Raccah a sociology, psychology double major. I was telling her about this class and she told me that she was enrolled in a very similar class. The name of her class is Gender and Science and it’s a 200 level sociology class. The focus of the course is about the patriarchal science community and how white males perpetuate the knowledge that benefits them. They focus on the problem of breaking into the science community if you are a women or a minority. I think it speaks volumes that SUNY Geneseo, a relatively small school, would offer two courses in different disciplines that talk about injustices in the science world. Continue reading “SOCL 240 + ENGL 101”
Slavery in Libya
Although many of us believe that slavery is in the past, slavery is still very prominent in other parts of the world. This is evident through current events. Recently a video was posted of enslaved people being auctioned off in Libya. Many people were shocked and disturbed by the video, as the news swiftly spread on many social media websites.
In the video, men were being treated like animals and were being sold for $400. While researching this current event I began to think about consent and how this current event relates to this course. I immediately linked this event to Fortune’s Bones. Continue reading “Slavery in Libya”
Final Collaborative Project
At the very beginning of the semester Professor McCoy gave us an article about what employer’s look for when they are hiring. One of the most agreed upon learning outcome from employers was “all college student should have education experiences that teach them how to solve problems with people whose views are different from their own” (3 Hart Research Associates). Our final collaborative project is exactly the type of experience that meets this learning outcome. If I am being honest when I first read the syllabus the idea of a paper written by the entire class seemed absurd to me. I had no idea how we were all going to write a paper, let alone agree on what was going to be said. Well I can now attest to the fact that since our paper is almost complete that it is very possible to write a paper as a class and it was also a rewarding experience. I am confident that in a job interview I could bring up this exact project and how it strengthened my ability to work through problems with people of all different backgrounds as well as ideas. This problem also met another learning outcome identified by the Hart Research Associates which is that 70% of employers want students that can analyze and solve complex problems. The problem of medical voluntourism is no doubt very complex, it deals with the white savior complex, consent and inequalities. The fact that Professor McCoy trusted my class to unpack potential solutions to this problem really shows her trust in me and my fellow classmates abilities. The collaborative project has no doubt pushed my limits as a student and I have seen a lot of self-growth. During the first group session I found that it mostly consisted of people spitting out their ideas and the other group members agreeing. While that was great I knew our class could do better. I saw this at our next group session. Instead of people just spitting out their ideas and others agreeing, people began to build off each other’s ideas. Somebody would say their idea and another person would respond with something to add to that idea. A great analogy I have for this is almost like a snowball rolling down a hill picking up more snow as it rolls down. This type of collaboration was so rewarding and it really allowed me to expand my thinking. I was able to look at my own ideas in a new light and it helped teach me how to work in a group more effectively.
What I Learned From ENGL 101
If I am being honest I am the epitome of procrastination right now. I am frantically typing my blog posts but I can’t help but to reflect on how this course honestly changed my outlook on medicine. From a very young age I have always wanted to be a doctor. I absolutely idolized doctors, especially my childhood pediatrician. In all honestly I had no idea of any of the atrocities we learned about in Medical Apartheid had taken place. I remember in one of the first classes Max brought up the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment and a lot of my classmates nodded to acknowledge that they were also familiar with it. I had absolutely no idea what that was. It wasn’t until I started reading Medical Apartheid that I learned about the long list of wrongdoings that medical professionals had committed against minority groups, especially the African American community.
I would like to now discuss a few of the largest things that I have taken away from this course. First, the importance of the both/and. Almost every class Professor McCoy brings up “the both/and” and it’s relevance to whatever we are taking about in class that day. Harriet Washington was one of the best examples and using the both/and. If you want your argument to be legitimate you must acknowledge the other side of the argument and the facts surrounding it. If you spend an entire argument ignoring the counterargument you are invalidating yourself.
The second take away I have gotten from this class is the importance of educating about injustices. I am a prime example of someone who did not know about any of the injustices discussed in Medical Apartheid. When we started discussing potential solutions to medical voluntourism every group had stated in their collaborative paragraph that educating was the best way to do it. The only way to prevent something from happening is by educating on why it’s wrong. This also connects to both/and as I discussed earlier. In order to successfully educate someone you need to keep in mind the both/and. Another important thing to remember when you are trying to educate someone is to avoid talking down to them.
The third takeaway from this class is the ability to effectively collaborate. I have worked on many group projects before but they mostly consisted of one person doing most of the work and the other group members just mindlessly following. In most of these cases I was the member who took control of the group. Looking back, no-one was benefiting from that type of collaboration. I can confidently say that this class has taught me how to effectively collaborate. The key to a strong group is all about balance. You have to be able to contribute your ideas but also have to listen to your other group members so you can build off their ideas. Collaboration is key to being able to solve complex issues and will be useful in any career field.
Importance of Language in Consent
In our class we have spent a lot of time discussing and unpacking the idea of consent. We spent an entire class learning about the Institutional Review Board. Throughout the reading of Harriet Washington’s Medical Apartheid we saw many unfortunate examples of consent not being given. We even spent a large amount of time discussing consent with regards to medical voluntourism. Needless to say, consent has been an important aspect of the course. Another focus of the course has been the importance of language and word choice. These two, consent and the important of language, go hand in hand.
Words are powerful. They have the power to give somebody the permission to do something or in other cases to not give somebody the permission to do something. It is also crucial that the words used to obtain consent or that are being used to give consent are clear the other person. In section 37. of the FAQ of the Institutional Review Board it says” to ensure that the consent document, in its entirety, contains all the information required by 21 CFR 50.25 in language the subject can understand.”. The portion of this that says in language that can be understood is absolutely crucial. This is where word choice becomes extremely important. If you are trying to obtain consent you must communicate clearly what exactly is going to be done and to what extent. It is also important to note that consent needs to be obtained if the procedure changes from it’s plan. “Clinical investigators should be cautious when enrolling subjects who may not truly understand what they have agreed to do. (Section 40 FAQ of the IRB). In Medical Apartheid Harriet Washington dedicates a chapter called “The Erosion of Consent”. An interesting point that she makes is “Various ethicists who are experts in human medical experimentation, such as Jay Katz, M.D and George Annas, J.D., worry that the vague language of federal regulations governing human medical experimentation is being interpreted in a manner that minimizes protections. (Washington 397). This is yet another example of how word choice is absolutely vital when obtaining consent. Intelligent people manipulated innocent, vulnerable people with their words. In some cases these people did not even ask for the patient’s consent due to loopholes in federal laws. Again, these loop holes are due to the wording of a law. I now understand why Professor McCoy stresses the importance of appropriate word choice being able to defend why you chose a particular word.
GLOBE in the Real World
I have been working as a nursing assistant at United Health Services (UHS) Hospital for the past two years in the float pool. This means I can work on any floor in the hospital. Last week, I went home to attend an annual unlicensed nursing assistant education class where I was reminded about the mission statement and values of UHS. While I was listening to the nurse educators talk about the mission statement, I noticed that it correlated with Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Education (GLOBE) and the college’s own mission statement. GLOBE was created to shape students into “socially responsible citizens” who are able to handle “twenty-first century problems… that are applicable throughout their lives” (GLOBE). Continue reading “GLOBE in the Real World”
Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun
Upon reading the follow-up article about Alabama and the hookworm crisis that Dr. McCoy emailed us, I started to think about our government and its structure in a new way. I find it very interesting that this information is not reaching major headlines. An entire county that’s plagued with an illness due to unsanitary conditions seems like something that should be broadcasted on the news station. I am intrigued by the fact that this information is not something widely known but I cannot say that I am surprised.
Flint, Michigan’s water crisis made headlines a year after the problem arouse. Some of those who were in charge of the project of changing the source of the water to flow through lead pipes were aware of the likelihood that this would be a problem. However, it was swept under the rug until it became such a health concern, that they had no other option but to pull it out and dust it off. And in case anyone was wondering, the lead pipes in Flint have not all been replaced, yet. Their citizens have been without clean water for three years now…
Issues like this remind me of the things that we have learned from Medical Apartheid. I was horrified by the things that we read in that book. The treatment that these African Americans received was not that hard to fathom because I have learned about other terrible discrimination and pain that they were forced to endure. However, I was astounded by the fact that I had never heard about any of this. You’d think that these things would be in textbook or classes that teach about ethics in science, but the only thing you hear about is the Tuskegee experiments. And when you learn about this, it’s often described in a way to make it sound like a little “hiccup” in America’s ethics. In reality, there’s so many more situations similar to this that society does not know about.
Our nation often refuses to accept when we are wrong and unethical. Dark secrets are often swept under the rug and only few ever find them, and when they do, they do not have the power to make the information spread. Our country tends to focus on blaming outsiders for everything. This article, Medical Apartheid, and this entire course has really made me question how much do I really know about this country and its mishaps; what are they hiding?