The role of doctor and patient in the construction of the pseudo-epileptic attack disorder
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 3 (1):29-38 (2000)
| Abstract | Periodic attacks of uncertain origin, where the clinical presentationresembles epilepsy but there is no evidence of a somatic disease, arecalled Pseudo-Epilepsy or Pseudo-Epileptic Attack Disorder (PEAD). PEADmay be called a `non-disease', i.e. a disorder on the fringes ofestablished disease patterns, because it lacks a rationalpathophysiological explanation. The first aim of this article is tocriticize the idea, common in medical science, that diseases are realentities which exist separately from the patient, waiting to bediscovered by the doctor. We argue that doctor and patient construct adisease, and that the construction of the disease PEAD includes manynormative evaluations. The second aim is to provide insight into thesuffering of patients with PEAD. We focus on three aspects of thepatient, identity, autonomy and responsibility. We present somecharacteristic descriptions of (pseudo-)epileptic attacks by FjodorDostoevsky, Gustave Flaubert and Thomas Mann. We argue that diagnosingPEAD reduces a meaningful life event into an insignificant, thoughintriguing, medical phenomenon, and that the patient will not benefitfrom being diagnosed as having PEAD | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMarian Rabinowitz (1980). Medicine as a Trade. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 1 (3):255-261.
Roosmaryn Pilgram (2012). Reasonableness of a Doctor’s Argument by Authority: A Pragma-Dialectical Analysis of the Specific Soundness Conditions. Journal of Argumentation in Context 1 (1):33-50.
Jerome Bickenbach (2012). Argumentation and Informed Consent in the Doctor–Patient Relationship. Journal of Argumentaion in Context 1 (1):5-18.
Roy Gilbar & Ora Gilbar (2009). The Medical Decision-Making Process and the Family: The Case of Breast Cancer Patients and Their Husbands. Bioethics 23 (3):183-192.
Stefano Tomelleri (2012). The Doctor, the Patient, and the Metaphor. World Futures 68 (3):206 - 211.
Christina M. van Der Feltz-Cornelis (2002). The Impact of Factitious Disorder on the Physician-Patient Relationship. An Epistemological Model. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5 (3):253-261.
Patricia Illingworth (2002). Trust: The Scarcest of Medical Resources. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 27 (1):31 – 46.
Harry H. Gordon (1983). The Doctor–Patient Relationship. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 8 (3):243-256.
Kirsti Malterud (1999). The (Gendered) Construction of Diagnosis Interpretation of Medical Signs in Women Patients. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 20 (3).
Jay Katz (1984/2002). The Silent World of Doctor and Patient. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Annemarie Gethmann-Siefert (2003). Consultation Instead of Prescription?A Model for the Structure of the Doctor?Patient Relationship. Poiesis and Praxis 2 (1):1-27.
P. Burcher (2012). The Noncompliant Patient: A Kantian and Levinasian Response. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 37 (1):74-89.
Wim Dekkers (1998). Hermeneutics and Experiences of the Body. The Case of Low Back Pain. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19 (3).
Jos V. M. Welie (1995). Viktor Emil Von Gebsattel on the Doctor-Patient Relationship. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 16 (1).
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2010-08-31Total downloads1 ( #274,921 of 549,118 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
