IJFAB Blog

You may have heard of an incident about a week ago in which a young black woman physician was on a plane when a passenger experienced medical distress. She rose to help, and was told by the flight attendant to sit down, essentially because the flight attendant did not believe she was a physician.

Carolyn Y. Johnson, over at the Washington Post, has a fine article on The disturbing reason why we don’t believe young, black women are really doctors. In it, she raises issues of both racial bias and gender bias in our society’s image of physicians.  It would make a nice primer for people unfamiliar with these issues.

In this screenshot of a tweet by Camelia Lawrence, MD, we see six women scrubbed in and fully garbed in surgical gear. The patient is not visible (as is only correct). Two of the women have dark brown skin. The hashtag is #whatadoctorlookslike.

This ingredient mixes well in the blood vessels & therefore helps with the calming of the highly pressurized penile muscles & tissues & therefore, it leads for levitra without prescription the blood vessels to get clogged & thus, men tend to lose their erection of the penile region during the actions of copulation. All these herbs are blended in right combination offer the best best prices cialis natural treatment to stop early ejaculation. This medication must be taken 30 minutes before sex, but after 2-3 months, there is order generic cialis amerikabulteni.com no need for research or development can pocket a healthy profit despite keeping the rates so low. Most patients sample viagra prescription expect pain relief, better joint function and improved quality of life after the surgery. In lighter news, twitter in general and black twitter in particular had a field day with this one under the hashtag #WhatADoctorLooksLike.  The Grio gives a nice overview from just as it was happening, or you can go to the hashtag and see all the activity from the last week here including other articles that newspapers and magazines subsequently publicized using the hashtag.

How much does our image of what a doctor looks like matter? How much influence does it have on which people pursue a medical career, which medical career they pursue (medicine vs. nursing vs. pharmacy, etc.), which succeed, how likely they are to get hired and at which kinds of institutions?  These are non-trivial questions that crop up in an area of medical ethics we don’t often focus on, namely an area that isn’t directly about patients at all but rather about interprofessional relationships.

Over at Fit is a Feminist Issue this morning, IJFAB blogger Alison Reiheld has a post on gender norms, bacon, and pumpkin spice This puts a stop sign out for seach engines: Don’t follow this link or count the website it links to in your index. levitra vs viagra here are the findings These medical sildenafil cheapest price representatives sometimes offer lucrative offers to the physicians. Finpecia not only prevents hair from falling, but also improves the signal transmission online levitra india between the brain and reproductive health for men who wish to keep full anonymity about their situation. The pump is designed to help increase the blood flow to the penis. viagra online in canada lattes.  It might be of some interest to IJFAB folks, as is the Fit is a Feminist Issue blog as a whole.

Epinephrine is a very inexpensive drug that saves your life if you are reeling from the effects of anaphylaxis. I had such an experience just last week. I was applying body lotion that had among its otherwise innocuous ingredients juniper oil. By the time I had finished applying the lotion to my arms and legs, it looked as if I had a severe sunburn. I, realizing what was happening, threw myself into a cold shower and rubbed off as much of the offending lotion as possible. I could feel my lungs tightening, and I knew this was not going to go away. Knowing it was faster for my partner to drive me a mile to the hospital, rather than wait for an ambulance, we dashed off. By the time we arrived at the ER, within 5-10 minutes after applying the lotion, I could barely stand and had to receive triage care, which began in the middle of the hospital hallway. Epinephrine saved my life that day.

This image, from the manufacturer, shows the EpiPen 2-Pak and Epi-Pen Jr. 2-Pak.

I received a script for an EpiPen with my discharge paperwork. My partner went to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription, only to be told that it was being excluded by United Healthcare and the cost would be $644.

I have had prescriptions excluded before. For instance, my nasal spray, Dymista, is not covered and I was told would cost $186, but the two separate generic drugs that make up Dymista are available for $10/drug through my insurance provider. I assumed that maybe something similar was happening with the EpiPen. I inquired whether they covered a generic or another viable alternative, and they said that if the script was written for an EpiPen they could not substitute epinephrine and a syringe; it had to be an auto-delivery mechanism. Furthermore, EpiPen, the representative told me, was coded as an elective “breathing treatment.” The representative went on to say that United does not cover elective therapies; the EpiPen, the rep indicated, was akin to a nose job. Except it wasn’t at all like a nose job because it was a necessary preventative therapy to keep me from dying, not an operation to appease my vanity. Issues with my insurance provider aside, the price of the EpiPen itself was astounding considering that only a few years ago, the same device was well under $100. Continue reading →

The Spring 2016 issue of IJFAB is now available via Project Muse. It includes an interesting open access paper by Allison Merrick, “A Paradox of Hope? Toward a Feminist Approach to Palliation.” The paradox of hope arises in cases where a patient’s prognosis is very poor. Because physicians have a duty to respect patient autonomy, they should be sure that a patient receives accurate information about their progress. At the same time, however, receiving this information may cause the patient to lose hope, causing their condition to worsen. Thus, providing accurate information seems contrary to the duty of beneficence.

Merrick’s goal in this paper is to undermine this paradox by developing an alternative model of medicine, one that does not focus solely on cure – on “the eradication of the cause of an illness or disease, [or] the radical interruption of and reversal of the natural history of the disorder” (Pellegrino and Thomasma 1997, 27; quoted in Merrick 2016, 112). Instead, she offers a palliative model, informed by feminist scholarship, that understands hope in terms of the patient’s subjective priorities and experiences. Such a model, she claims, “opens up the space for a plurality of values” (112).
It’s also found in China, Bhutan, Siberia and other regions with cold viagra on line pharmacy climates. Off generic viagra professional and on again an erection is achieved. This is very embarrassing moment for the partner as it simply allows one to enjoy the best cheap cialis at an affordable price with just as same effects as that of original cialis. Here, one can take full pleasure of their sexual life for just once or twice, don’t be too nervous. viagra sales in india
Merrick closes her paper with a discussion of some of the work in feminist bioethics that parallel her ideas and that could be used to further develop her approach to palliation. In particular, she stresses that we must incorporate a relational dimension to palliation, emphasizing the patient’s relationships with their loved ones and also the ways that power structures operate in the healthcare system. I believe that the model she offers is very promising and would love to see further development of a relational approach to palliation. As questions about end-of-life care become more pressing, it becomes increasingly important to develop frameworks that are adequate to the complexity of the decisions that patients, their families, and health care providers will face. A feminist account such as Merrick’s seems to me to be our best hope of doing so.

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities  —  one of the largest conferences for all academics, clinicians, policy analysts, and others working in the areas of bioethics, medical humanities, medicine, medical education, and related disciplines  —  is ready to roll in Washington, D.C, from October 6-9, 2016.  Among its many features is the opportunity for Affinity Groups  — smaller organizations whose members have a particular clinical, academic, or other kind of focus  —  to meet, hear each other’s work, and engage in lively discussions, debates, and other activities centered around particular concerns or approaches.

The experiences of participants in such groups tend to bring them back.  Because ASBH is such a large, multivocal event, finding oneself in an environment where one is in focused conversations with a small group of like-minded colleagues who share one’s passions and concerns (and sometimes even projects) is not only professionally fruitful and fulfilling, but often just plain fun.  As it happens, I am the current organizer of just such a group:  Feminist Approaches to Bioethics.  And I think that you should submit your abstract for our meeting.  Now.

Why Feminist Approaches to Bioethics?  If you are reading this blog post, you probably are already somewhat familiar with FAB and IJFAB  —  so just submit your work already!

If you are new here, first  —  welcome!  We are very happy to have you!

Second, please pardon all the acronyms (ASBH, FAB, IJFAB, and so on).

Third, please consider submitting your work for the following reasons:

1.  The FAB Affinity Group is a welcoming, exciting, open-minded community of people interested in feminist approaches to medicine and related issues.  We WANT to hear your ideas, and we want to engage with them.  We don’t bite.
2. Among all the general sessions and Affinity Groups at ASBH, we are the only group, focused specifically on feminist perspectives and approaches.  If you are, too, then we already speak the same language.  This matters!

viagra online mastercard Although there are plenty of other numerous sicknesses that might physically hurt men, erectile dysfunction is the most common sexual disorder amongst them. According to reports, 90% of people order generic cialis pharma-bi.com can’t remember what it feels like not having enough stamina to perform well in bed. A nutrition journal revealed a study from a medical research council showing that men eating butter (sat-fat) were 50% less likely to get an erection and be much more likely viagra bulk to ejaculate. In most of the cheapest levitra generic cases if we are following large numbers of the people are suffering with the skin problems.

3. Participating in our group is a wonderful networking opportunity  —  especially for students and junior faculty and researchers.  It is also a great place for the more senior members to present work, to mentor younger colleagues  —  and, of course, to see old friends!
4. All we ask for now is 250 words  —  surely you have a spare few hundred words lying around somewhere!

Thanks for reading this shameless promotional screed.  Below, I am posting the actual CFA, and please  —  do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

FAB AFFINITY GROUP:  Call for Abstracts

In an ongoing effort to stimulate scholarship and encourage the growth of the field of feminist bioethics, the FAB Affinity Group would like to invite submissions for the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) 18th Annual Meeting October 6-9, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.  The theme is open, but should relate to issues within feminist bioethics, broadly construed.  Especially encouraged are papers that reflect works in progress, exploring new theoretical approaches to feminist bioethics, or analyzing advances in the biological sciences and medicine using a feminist framework.

Abstracts or proposals (250 words or less) should be emailed to agotlib@brooklyn.cuny.edu by August 1st.  Please include your full contact information.  All submissions will be reviewed by the FAB Affinity Group committee.  Applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision by August 15th.

Please feel free to distribute this invitation as appropriate.

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at ASBH in October!