Williams Carlos Williams: The Use Of Force

The patient is an eighty- five-year-old man by the name of James Williams who is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He is my grandfather’s older twin brother who suffered a stroke a couple years back. Before the stroke he was a normal elderly man with regular speech and movements. One could barely tell the twins apart. Now post trauma, James seemed to have aged a lot faster than his brother. What once was clear and audible; his speech is now muffled, slurred, and repetitive. Once smooth and sturdy steps are now much slower and careful (also due to arthritis in his back and legs) so as not to fall while he uses a cane. A simple 15-minute walk to the store that is 5 blocks away takes almost an hour for James Williams. Before his stroke, Mr. Williams had not been to a doctor in years and didn’t feel comfortable going to seek medical attention. Often times, he would decline any type of help to the point where he would refused mediation that we would try to give him or even food when we …show more content…
I could easily compare the behavior of the little girl Mathilda to that of James Williams. Both behaved in ways that were detrimental to their own health at one point. In “The Use of Force” Mathilda could have died if the doctor did not pry her mouth apart to find the swollen tonsils, if we did not force James to take certain medication, eat, and seek medical care he may not still be alive today. To see both of these situations only goes to show that sometimes we as people are our own worse enemy and that you cant be helped if you don’t even want to help yourself. It is not only the Health Care provider’s job to take care of you but also your own job to follow up and be consistent in your own care. Also as Health Care Providers they should be more approachable to the people so no one feels scared of going or getting treated so they get treated as quickly as