Doctor-patient relationship

The Transformative Power of Diagnosis

Staff From our researchers June 12, 2019December 16, 2019Diagnosis, Doctor-patient relationship, Nineteenth century medicine, Serious disease

– by Wood Institute travel grantee Annemarie Jutel*

The moment a serious diagnosis is named marks a boundary. As Suzanne Fleischmann wrote: “It serves to divide a life into “before” and “after,” and this division is henceforth superimposed onto every rewrite of the individual’s life story” (p. 10). The power to cleave one’s sense of self in two is what Fleischmann referred to the “transformative power of the diagnosis.” The illustration accompanying this post paints a picture most of us can immediately recognise, so often the power of diagnosis is referred to in popular culture, in medical and patient accounts of illness.

How to Talk About Difficult Issues in Medicine

Staff Education and outreach, From our researchers, Out of the stacks October 19, 2018October 19, 2018Doctor-patient relationship, Hemorrhoids, History of medicine, Medical "shame"

– by Wood Institute travel grantee Dr. Edward Allen Driggers*

American medicine has many problems and virtues. One way to “probe” and vindicate the virtues and deal honestly with the problems is participating in writing the history of medicine. Many of the readers of this blog suffer from or will suffer from some sort of medical illness or pathology. One difficulty of illness is talking about it with friends, family, and relatives. American society, much like many other world societies, is oddly squeamish about bodily fluids, belches, smells, and discharges. These passé manners do not serve our open and heartfelt discussions of diseases. For instance, dear reader, I suffer from Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), specifically Crohn’s Disease. I have had abscesses, discharges, leaky bowels, and, to confess, I do not have all my original parts that I started life with. One of the most difficult things about being chronically ill is explaining these problems to friends, family, or a new lover. How do we talk about difficult things?
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