Chapter 11 was on the topic of Health Care Communication Ethics. "Health care communication ethics protects and promotes the good of responsive hope and the good of care for the Other in meeting moments of robust heath, normal difficulties, the tragic, and the inevitable," (p. 191). In order for one to communicate efficiently, one has to have a certain amount of empathy or warmth. The four metaphors that this chapter used were, 1.) Health care communication, 2.) Health, 3.) Responsiveness, and 4.) Care.
Health care communication is defined as, "the study of communication practices within the broad domain of health care, from patient/ professional interaction to institutional communication questions about health," (p. 192). I didn't really understand this section, and couldn't think of any examples for this one. I was wondering if anyone has any examples that they though of for this part. Health, according to our book is, "the interplay of communicative responses to conditions of mind, body, and soul, from beginning to end of a life," (p. 192). This section reminds us that health is not only physical, but mental as well. The way one takes care of themselves effects not only you, but your community of people around you as well.
I thought that the most interesting part of this chapter were the sections of responsiveness and care. Responsiveness is, "responsibility that meets the call of the Other, even when the call is unwanted," (p. 192). This section reminds me of my grandma; she used to come over to our house everyday when me and my siblings were younger, and take care of us, do our laundry, and take us out to eat. However, now that she has Alzheimer's it is my responsibility to reach out to her problems. Care is, "a human answer to the call of the Other, a willingness to meet and attend to someone other than oneself," (p. 192). This relates to my grandma as well because she has to rely on others to care for her. I believe that all people should care for others, because at some point in our life we will have to rely on the Other to care for us, being that health depletes and we will all die.
It is really hard to thing to watch if someone who you love is having a hard time because of his or her physical condition. While I was reading this chapter, I could think of my cousin who died last year because of stomach cancer on my birthday. He could not feed himself and he could not go to bathroom by himself. He had to rely on others to care too. I wish you are seeing your grandma often because I could not stay with him when he was gone because he did not want others to see him since he started to think himself as terrible look.
ReplyDeleteI really relate with you when you talked about your grandma. It was such a weird experience seeing someone who used to be so strong become weak and helpless. I had grown up with her taking care of me and then when she became sick with cancer it was my turn to care for her. We had to call to the needs and respond quickly because her cancer was so severe and also provide her with loving care to make sure her treatment was as comfortable as possible. I also like the fact that you talked about mental health. I think in today's society mental health either has a negative or "adorable" stigma. Mental health, just like any other ailment, deserves attention because it effects our overall well being.
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