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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Black Lips Don't Turn Blue: A Womanist Critique Of Discriminatory Language In Medical Education, Alison Lawrence
Black Lips Don't Turn Blue: A Womanist Critique Of Discriminatory Language In Medical Education, Alison Lawrence
Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest
This paper examines race and gender inequities in healthcare as it pertains to the unequal presentation of descriptors of illness in medical textbooks. The author adopts a womanist perspective to criticize the use of the white male body as the standard for all patients, which causes signs and symptoms in women and people of color to be dismissed as less important. Following an analysis of normalizing language in current medical texts as well as its consequences for patients, the author calls for a system-wide shift to more inclusive, intersectional medical education that not only acknowledges differences among patient groups, but …
Disease Mongering: How Sickness Sells, Vanessa C. Iroegbulem
Disease Mongering: How Sickness Sells, Vanessa C. Iroegbulem
Augustana Center for the Study of Ethics Essay Contest
“Disease mongering” is the practice of widening diagnostic boundaries of an illness and promoting their public awareness to expand the markets for treatment and to increase profits. This tactic typically used by pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, insurance companies, and even some doctors and patient groups, has become a great concern. Disease mongering has since increased in parallel with “medicalization,” which attempts to label normal human conditions as medical problems, thus becoming the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. This paper first seeks to examine how an increasing amount of life’s natural conditions and ailments are being seen …