NOTE:
if you don’t have the book yet, here’s a link to the article on-line: https://medium.com/matter/did-sierra-leones-hero-doctor-have-to-die-1c1de004941e
PART I:
Definitions (define the following with a brief definition—enough to understand
the passage in question): Imminent (127); meticulously (129); perilous (132);
hemorrhagic (136); acquiesced (143); trepidation (144); paternalistic (150)
PART
II: Questions (answer 2 of the 4 questions in sufficient detail to show that
you’ve read the essay and understand that there is more than one easy answer)
Q1: In
the aftermath of Khan’s death, friends say that Doctors Without Borders “was
being very paternalistic” and that his death was ultimately “about color”
(150). Why did Doctors Without Borders make the decision they did, and is there
any evidence that race played a role in his death or treatment?
Q2:
When the outbreak starts raging throughout the country, at least one doctor
admitted, “We had no strategy, no laboratories, no observation centers. We were
completely unprepared” (139). Why do you think they were taken by surprise, and
how might it relate to our previous essay, “The Really Big One”?
Q3: Treating
a disease or outbreak has as much to do with medicine as it does the culture
itself. What difficulties did Khan face in the psychology/beliefs of the
Africans he treated? How might this explain why diseases such as ebola flourish
more in developing nations than in, say, America?
Q4: Do
you think the writer, Joshua Hammer, views Khan more as a heroic or a tragic
figure? Is the point of the article to show how much a man can accomplish even
against impossible odds (heroic), or is it to show how good people are doomed
in circumstances of ignorance and corruption (tragic)? How does he want us to
think/feel when we finish reading the article?
“My Nurses are Dead, and I Don’t Know if I’m Already Infected”
ReplyDelete• Imminent- about to happen
• Meticulously- in a way that shows great attention to detail
• Perilous- in a way that is full of danger or risk
• Hemorrhagic- accompanied by or produced by hemorrhage
• Acquiesced- accept something reluctantly but without protest
• Trepidation- a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen
• Paternalistic- relating to or characterized by the restriction of the freedom and responsibilities of subordinates or dependents in their supposed interest
Questions:
1) Doctors without borders made the decision they made as a result of being scared to do the wrong thing. They were worried that if the choice they made resulted in the death of Khan, which would be a liability. It would stir up such questions of race and whether or not they did everything they could. There’s no evidence relating to race and whether or not it played a role in his death or treatment.
2) As such in the article “The Really Big One”, the outbreak of Ebola was foretold and not taken seriously, largely to fact of it having no definition of when or how. People are not all for putting money and time into something that’s not personally affecting them at the current time or being a for sure fact of it happening. They continued to carry on like normal and were completely uphanded by the virus. And there continuous nonchalant attitude towards it also added into the widespread.
Japheth Tyler Cardwell 8/29/2017
Jordan Bussey
ReplyDeleteImminent- fixing to happen
Meticulously-shows attention to detail
Perilous- full of danger or risk
Hemorrhagic- produced by hemorrhage
Acquiesced- accepting something reluctantly but without protest
Trepidation- a feeling of fear about something that may happen
Paternalistic- relating to the restriction of the freedom and responsibilities of dependents in their supposed interest
1. There was no obvious fingers pointing to this as a race thing, but they were worried it would be implied by their decision. In this situation I'm sure they felt like it was better to act than to not to due to the gravity of the situation.
2. The virus was completely unseen to a certain extent, but somewhat known of. This was in correlation to "The Big One" in the fact that is was known but not in the aspect that it took everyone by surprise. People knew about Ebola but chose to look the other way because of the money aspect. This isn't really the case of "The Big One", there was/is only so much you can do when it comes to an earthquake. Meanwhile there are vaccines and such for disease, they just weren't invested in due to the fact that is wasn't taken serious.
Imminent- about to happen
ReplyDeleteMeticulously- in a way that shows great attention to detail
Perilous- in a way that is full of danger or risk
Hemorrhagic- accompanied by or produced by hemorrhage
Acquiesced- accept something reluctantly but without protest
Trepidation- a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen
Paternalistic- relating to or characterized by the restriction of the freedom and responsibilities of subordinates or dependents in their supposed interest
Question 1: Doctors without boarders made the decision to not give Dr. Khan the vaccine because it was only tested on monkeys and not on humans. They also decided that Dr. Khan was such a high profile individual that if they messed this up they would be in trouble. There is really no evidence that race had anything to do with this however, there is no evidence that it was not race related.
Question 3: In their rituals for the dead they are very physical. With that many people participating in these kinds of rituals disease outbreaks become a problem. In their country the medicine like we have is not readily available.
Danielle Cantrell 8/29/17