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Doctor-Patient Relationship

This study will apply the theories of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Talcott Parsons to the problem of the doctor-patient relationship. The study will examine that relationship as one which typically finds the doctor in a superior position and the patient in an inferior position, a particularly peculiar situation because the doctor is there to serve the patient. Obviously, then, some social forces are at work which alter the expected relationship. This study will examine those forces from the perspectives of the three theorists. Although they do not speak specifically to the problem, their theories nevertheless do shed light on the doctor-patient relationship and its imbalance in favor of the doctor.

The subject is crucial because every individual--even every doctor--must sooner or later be a patient in such a relationship and must deal not only with issues of life and death but with the feelings of helplessness and fear that accompany such a situation. The doctor, too, must face his own tendency to feel superior in such a situation. This has likely been the state of the doctor-patient relationship since such a relationship first occurred between a recognized healer and a sick or injured person: the patient is afraid and is generally ignorant about what is happening to him and/or what must be done to stop the pain or to save his life, and the doctor is in a position of great power. Dr. Martin Broder refers to this as "white coat hypertension," with the white coat a symbol for the relationship, the inferiority of the patient, the superiority of the doctor:

Lots has been written about . . . the white coat producing fear and intimidation, stress and dependency in patients. Some claim that the white coat is a barrier, that it frightens patients (especially children). . . . Others say that it promotes arrogance. . . . The coat itself is not the issue--it's the learning, the behavior, the values, the compassion that it stands for. . ....

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Doctor-Patient Relationship. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:16, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693096.html