themedicalindustrialcomplex:[Medicine in western society operates within a hierarchical power struct
themedicalindustrialcomplex:[Medicine in western society operates within a hierarchical power structure, where doctors sit at the top of the pecking order, differentiated according to consultant status, and an acknowledged expertise (Hughes and Fergusson 2000). MacKay (2003, p. 820) asserts that “the power of medicine lies in its intellectual knowledge of the body” which grants its legitimacy and permits a set of objectifying practices that a large section of society feels are justified. Leder (1990) proposes that the patient’s body is seen by medics to be a physiological machine. An object which, when invaded by illness and disease, requires the medical profession’s assistance in “fixing the machine” (p. 148) and restoring it to an acceptable standard. Lupton (1994) suggests that the division of the mind and body is the philosophical ideology underpinning contemporary western medicine. Disease is essentially confined to the body and the mind is of secondary importance. The division of mind and body is responsible for many of the professions’ practices that result in the patient feeling depersonalized and alienated from their body (Wendell 1996). When searching for a cure and the resumption of normal functioning, the expectation of patients’ behavior is clear. They are required to be suitably attentive and compliant with the doctor’s assessment and proposed treatment regime (Oliver 1998). As indicated, doctors’ behavior is not deemed by society to be oppressive; it is just what is required of them (Lupton 1994).]From Disability and Child Sexual Abuse, Martina Higgins and John Swain -- source link
#doctors#treatment#patient advocacy#recovery