Reply to Interactions with medical staff can lead to Vulnerable Child Syndrome

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Interactions with medical staff can lead to Vulnerable Child Syndrome"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote]In this particular case, maybe. But only if there are no future medical implications resulting from this experience and the procedures employed. And if the parents change practices, or are in some other situation where they need to relay their child's medical history to emergency room staff, for example, I think a thorough understanding, including the 'scary' medical terminology, is necessary.

It seems rather condescending to think that parents just can't handle medical information. And it worried me that the article implicitly emphasized mothers' anxiety throughout, as something to be avoided. It's a short, slippery slope from "thoughtful communication" to "don't worry your little head about it, dear." It also brings to mind the numerous studies that show that medical staff, including female doctors, take women's own medical concerns less seriously. When doctors feel that women cannot handle medical information for their children, it displays a medical culture in which women are thought of as less than rational, and capable of making decisions.[/quote]

So, I am someone that is very much able to rationally handle medical information. I have never needed anything kept from me, good or bad. In undergrad I took a medical terminology class, anatomy/physiology, etc. When doctors start using medical terms I can follow along.  That's why, when I had life-threatening pre-eclampsia with my second pregnancy the neonatologist and I could discuss the new study at the time that hypothesized that pre-eclampsia might be a result of an auto-immune response in the mother's body.

However, I very much appreciated that my or my child's caregivers didn't tell me how dangerous things really were. I appreciated that it took some months to process that they knew since week 29 that the baby would be delivered at week 32 - if we made it that far. I appreciated that didn't frame things in dire or stark terms.  It was a form of mental protection that allowed me to have an elevated level of concern that didn't rise to sheer panic. I look back now and realize that some part of my brain took over and helped me make it through that period and bring home a 5lb baby on a heart monitor and function to nurse that child/help her grow.

I don't read the linked article as not listening to women's concerns or believing them incapable of making their own medical decisions. When the only choice is offering the best level of care in the face of what could be a poor outcome I don't think couching terms so as not to send someone into a panic is condescension or lying. Presenting the news in the starkest terms is not going to change the medical outcome.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics