Wit is a film created by HBO about Vivian Bearing and her experience in the healthcare facility during her battle of stage four ovarian cancer (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). This paper will show through Vivian’s experience and through lecture notes how the film corresponds with the consensus and conflict sociological models. First the paper will discuss how the film relates with the consensus model. Lastly, the paper will discuss how the film related to the conflict model. The consensus model created by Talcott Parsons gives health care providers (HCP) legitimated authority within their profession because of the scientific and rational knowledge they earned through hard work within medical school, and also because HCPs are treating and benefiting
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The voice of medicine is the voice displayed by the HCP using objective, medical and scientific words and phrases (Whelan, 2015a). This was shown when Jason and his mentor Dr. Kelekian would talk to Vivian using medical jargon about her diagnosis, her condition, her procedures, and about her anatomy with her not knowing much about what was being said (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). This creates inaccessibility—being unable to access/understand the information presented (Whelan, 2015a). Innocuousness—creating phrases or words to create the situation as harmless (Whelan, 2015a), is another part of the voice of medicine shown in the film. This was shown in the introduction of the film when Kelekian was explaining the diagnosis of cancer to Vivian and was using medical jargon and eloquent phrases to create the disease as less dangerous or harmful than it is, however, because Vivian is a scholar, she knew there was something serious being said, however did not know how serious until she started experiencing the side effects (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). Decontextualization—removing the patient/patient’s concerns from the medical context (Whelan, 2015a) was the last voice of medicine displayed in the film. This was shown when Kelekian and the fellow students were trying to guess early signs of chemotherapy treatment. The students would think of great ideas from textbooks, but completely forgot about looking at the individual patient in front of them who was experience alopecia (hair loss) (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). By having the voice of medicine, it removes the voice of the life world (i.e. the voice of the individual/the world an individual lives in), the HCPs only see the pathology/disease of the individual, and disregards social issues, or the patient in general. Because of this, it gives the patient to feel even further vulnerable
The voice of medicine is the voice displayed by the HCP using objective, medical and scientific words and phrases (Whelan, 2015a). This was shown when Jason and his mentor Dr. Kelekian would talk to Vivian using medical jargon about her diagnosis, her condition, her procedures, and about her anatomy with her not knowing much about what was being said (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). This creates inaccessibility—being unable to access/understand the information presented (Whelan, 2015a). Innocuousness—creating phrases or words to create the situation as harmless (Whelan, 2015a), is another part of the voice of medicine shown in the film. This was shown in the introduction of the film when Kelekian was explaining the diagnosis of cancer to Vivian and was using medical jargon and eloquent phrases to create the disease as less dangerous or harmful than it is, however, because Vivian is a scholar, she knew there was something serious being said, however did not know how serious until she started experiencing the side effects (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). Decontextualization—removing the patient/patient’s concerns from the medical context (Whelan, 2015a) was the last voice of medicine displayed in the film. This was shown when Kelekian and the fellow students were trying to guess early signs of chemotherapy treatment. The students would think of great ideas from textbooks, but completely forgot about looking at the individual patient in front of them who was experience alopecia (hair loss) (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). By having the voice of medicine, it removes the voice of the life world (i.e. the voice of the individual/the world an individual lives in), the HCPs only see the pathology/disease of the individual, and disregards social issues, or the patient in general. Because of this, it gives the patient to feel even further vulnerable