A Critical Gaze of Scientific Medicine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A Critical Gaze of Scientific Medicine - Essay Example In the novel, the different levels within the cosmopolitan medical system itself also embody the class structure during the 1920’s and 1930’s in China. In the hierarchy of the cosmopolitan medical system the upper class is composed of foreign physicians and foreign-trained Chinese male physicians, the middle class is made up of local-trained Chinese male or female doctors, nurses, therapists, and technicians, and the working class consists of Chinese female service personnel. Foreign physicians and foreign-trained Chinese physicians play the dominant role during the interactions between the patients and the cosmopolitan medical system in Gold-dust Dynasty, whereas nurses and service personnel are almost silent, which implies that the cosmopolitan medicine in Gold-dust Dynasty lays stress on the training of physicians, rather than the provision of care to patients. During the treatment, experiences of suffering and symptom expressions are explained as the depersonalized site of isolatable sickness episodes by physicians. Patients seek but do not get answers to their questions about their suffering and therefore develop their own understanding of their situations. For example, the formal wife of the biggest son of the Jin family is sick during her pregnancy. The physician prescribes her medicine without any explanation of her ailment. As a result, the lady begins to perceive her baby as the cause of her physical and psychological afflictions, leading to plans for aborting the baby.