The Chloroformist

Feminist Studies 47, no. 3. © 2021 by Feminist Studies, Inc. 627 Kirin Joya Makker Womb Chair Speaks The human womb is extraordinary, an active biological marvel that moves through 450+ menstrual cycles during a lifetime.1 Comprising a unique and curious set of organs, the womb provides an optimal environment for conception and gestation. Yet over time the reproductive system’s cycles and tissues also makes the womb an active site of aberrant cell growth and scarring. Thickening and thinning hundreds of times over decades, this anatomy often ends up acquiring a host of irregular formations—spongey cysts, fibrous tumors, mushroomy polyps, soft adhesions, and other fragments of endometrial flotsam.2 Anyone with a womb experiences this biological operation and manages its manifestations and effects throughout their life. 1. This project considers the term “womb” to be first, a biological characteristic of a population of humans, primarily composed of women. The term “womb” is used because it comprises not only the uterus, but the entire reproductive system as well as a deep pelvic region of the body. However, the project emphasizes that the term “womb” works metaphorically to describe human sexuality, femininity, and care work, and thus the womb as a cultural phenomenon affects and constrains womxn, femmes, and trans and nonbinary people, whether they have physical wombs or not. The title “Womb Chair Speaks” was the idea of May Farnsworth, whom I thank sincerely. 2. Natalie Angier, Woman: An Intimate Geography (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999), 124–25. 628 Kirin Joya Makker Despite the womb’s dynamic, textured, and resilient biology, it has not received tribute and attention in line with its complex qualities.3 Medically, socially, and aesthetically, our conceptual understanding of the womb has been tightly framed by its role in reproduction. Gynecology and obstetrics—the fields devoted to the biology and health of the female genital tract—are centered on this procreative function. There remains no medical specialty devoted to the womb’s unique cellular biology, tissues, or menstruation, despite detailed knowledge of diseased pelvic anatomy from the first century CE.4 When the womb has been given sustained theorization and study in the sciences, it has included spurious diagnoses of “hysteria” for women who are now believed to have been struggling with chronic pelvic pain.5 The emphasis in medicine on the procreative purpose of the womb has encouraged widespread ignorance in the healthcare industry and its patients about the genital system’s everyday existence and functioning , from its biology to its short- and long-term cycles, to understanding 3. Susan D. Mathias, Miriam Kupperman, Rebecca F. Liberman, Ruth C. Lipschitz , and John F. Steege, “Chronic Pelvic Pain: Prevalence, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Economic Correlates,” Obstetrics and Gynecology 87, no. 3 (1996): 3, 321–27, https://doi.org/10.1016/0029-7844(95)00458-0321. This article reports that worldwide, between fourteen and thirty-two percent of women of childbearing age report chronic pelvic pain. See also Abimbola A. Ayorinde, Gary J. Macfarlane, Lucky Saraswat, and Siladitya Bhattacharya , “Chronic Pelvic Pain in Women: An Epidemiological Perspective,” Women’s Health 11, no. 6 (November 2015): 851–64, https://doi.org/10.2217 /whe.15.30. This article reports that most studies about chronic pelvic pain are conducted among women of reproductive age. Older women, who are perceived as less susceptible to pelvic pain, have been traditionally excluded from prevalence studies. In 1994, a cross-sectional analysis of a primary care database in the United Kingdom found higher rates of chronic pelvic pain in women aged 61 to 73 compared with women in younger age groups. More recent population studies in the United Kingdom and the United States have also confirmed significant reporting of chronic pelvic pain among older women. While the highest rate reported in one of the studies was in women aged 18 to 25 years (17 percent), women older than 75 years had a rate of 13 percent (855). 4. Greek Physician Soranus of Ephesus, first/second century CE, wrote a fourpart treatise on gynecological diseases and is believed to have been the first Western physician to describe the symptoms of pelvic disease at length. 5. Camran Nezhat, Farr Nezhat, and Ceana...

IntroductionCancer contributes to significant illness burden in South Africa, with delayed diagnosis resulting from limited knowledge of cancer, lack of biomedical treatment and stigma. This study examines ways in which people are identified as having cancer through perspectives of traditional healing or the biomedical model. Additionally, we sought to understand the stigma associated with cancer, including stereotypes, anticipated discrimination and coping styles.MethodsLivestrong Foundation conducted 11 semi-structured focus groups with key community stakeholders in three South African townships. Interviews examined the negative consequences of being labeled with a cancer diagnosis as well as causes of, possible prevention of and barriers and methods to improve access to cancer treatment. Analyses were completed using directed content analysis.ResultsRevealed three main labeling mechanisms: physical appearance of perceived signs/symptoms of cancer, diagnosis by a traditional healer, or a biomedical diagnosis by a Western physician. Being labeled led to anticipated discrimination in response to prevalent cancer stereotypes. This contributed to delayed treatment, use of traditional healers instead of biomedical treatment and secrecy of symptoms and/or diagnosis. Further, perceptions of cancer were commonly conflated with HIV/TB owing to prior educational campaigns.ConclusionOur study deepens the understanding of the cancer labeling process in South Africa and the resulting negative effects of stigma. Future anti-stigma interventions should partner with traditional healers due to their respected community status and consider how previous health interventions may significantly impact current understandings of illness.

Austere care of the wounded is challenging for all Western medical professionals-nurse, medic, or physician. There can be no doubt that working for the first time, either for a nongovernment organization or in the Special Forces, you will be taking care of wounded patients outside your training and experience. You must have the ability to adapt to and overcome lack of resources and equipment, and accept standards of treatment often very different and lower than that common in western hospitals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was asked to provide relief for the Pakistan Red Crescent in 1982 and set up the ICRC Hospital for Afghan War Wounded in Peshawar on the border to Afghanistan. This article relates how a western-trained young anesthetist on a ICRC surgical team experienced this, at the time, austere environment.

PurposeThe internet has become one of the most important media outlets used to obtain health information. Therefore, the quality of health information available on the internet is very important. We evaluated the quality of internet-derived health information on allergic rhinitis, rhinitis and sinusitis and compared these results to those of previous studies performed five years ago.MethodsThe terms "allergic rhinitis (AR)", "rhinitis" and "sinusitis" were searched among the four most commonly used search engines in South Korea. These websites were evaluated according to the author, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, the DISCERN questionnaire and the Allergic rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) 2008 Update.ResultsA total of 120 websites were obtained and analyzed. For all diseases, "Oriental physician" had the largest portion (almost half of all websites), followed by "Western physician". Based on analyses using the JAMA benchmark, "Attribution" and "Disclosure" were ignored in almost all surveyed websites. According to the scores of the DISCERN question, the majority of websites did not supply appropriate references for their health information, and information on the negative aspects of treatment such as risks and uncertainty was not provided in several websites. In an analysis based on the ARIA 2008 Update concepts, 65% of websites pertaining to health information on AR contained unreliable information.ConclusionsThe quality of health information on the internet was not acceptable. Thus, governmental regulation or control to improve the quality of health information is required.

In Early Modern Europe court physicians exerted great influence in service to their royal patrons. These medical practitioners acted as learned conduits, whose knowledge of natural philosophy, which often included occult theories of healing, natural magic and astrology, was able to serve the broad interests of their patrons. Thus, in addition to being charged with maintaining the health of a ruler, physicians were often exploited by monarchs seeking to enhance the general health of their body politic. This case study of the German physician Andreas Engelhardt examines his decade-long service in Moscow between 1656 and 1666 at the court of Aleksei Mikhailovich. This study of Engelhardt’s role at court at a time of increased Western influence in Muscovy aims to reveal how the tsar sought to utilize the learning of his German physician in a variety of ways. Engelhardt not only administered Western medical remedies, including the use of unicorn horns, to the royal family, but was also instructed to ascertain whether various Russian and Siberian folk remedies possessed beneficent qualities. This process of legitimization and containment of medical knowledge coincided with an attempt to suppress the authority of folk healers, thereby reflecting the autocratic nature of Aleksei Mikhailovich’s reign. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that the tsar drew on Engelhardt’s supposed expertise in astrology and divination in order to know how Muscovy would be affected by the appearance of a comet in the winter of 1664-1665.

ObjectivesThe internet has become an important source of medical information and a great amount of information related to allergic rhinitis (AR) is available on the internet. However, the quality of this information is still a matter of debate. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the AR-related information on Korean websites.MethodsThe key word "allergic rhinitis" was entered into 4 popular search engines, and this led to identifying 40 websites. After being categorized according to authorship, the informational value of these websites was evaluated using 4 different assessment tools such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, the DISCERN questionnaire, the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) 2008 Update and the Health On the Net (HON) code.ResultsThe 40 websites containing AR-related information were categorized according to their authorship as Western physician: 20, Oriental physician: 14, commercial: 1, and others: 5. The mean citation frequencies of the JAMA benchmarks and the ARIA 2008 Update concepts was 1.23 out of 4 and 4.33 out of 8, respectively, while the mean DISCERN score was 1.92 out of 5. When the websites were evaluated based on the type of authorship, the mean citation frequencies of the ARIA 2008 Update concepts were Western physician: 5.35, Oriental physician: 2.64. Additionally, three websites authored by Western physicians and 13 authored by Oriental physicians contained unreliable information. Among these 16 websites, only 3 websites met the requirements for the HON code "Justification".ConclusionAR-related information available on Korean websites is of variable quality and not all of the information provided is justifiable. Thus, performing surveillance of the medical information on these websites is necessary. Furthermore, common criteria that can be used to evaluate the websites created by both Western and Oriental physicians are also needed.

<i>eCAM</i>: Retaining an International Perspective

Factors affecting physician visits in Chinese and Chinese immigrant samples

Despite the substantial amount of asthma-related information available on the internet, little is known about the quality of such information. We assessed asthma-related information on the Korean internet intended as an educational material for asthma patients. By entering the key word, 'asthma', into 4 popular search engines, 32 web sites were identified and categorized with respect to authorship. The core asthma educational concepts and Health On the Net Code of Conduct principles were used to evaluate informational value and justifiability of unreliable information. Eight of 32 web sites were categorized as western physician, seventeen as oriental physician, four as commercial, and three as others. The mean number of core asthma educational concepts on the whole web sites was 2.7 out of 8. By type of authorship, 1.7 on the commercial sites, 2.1 on the oriental physician sites, 3.5 on the western physician sites, and 5.0 on the others sites in decreasing order. One of the western physician sites, two of the commercial sites, and all of the oriental physician and others sites contained unreliable information. However all of them except one site failed to satisfy our criteria of justifiability. Asthma-related information currently available on the Korean internet is highly variable in quality and lacks core asthma educational concepts and justifiability.

This article provides an inquiry into use of health services by the elderly. The authors operationalize models of use with a survey of 350 elderly Chinese. Because the survey involves native Chinese, the empirical test can isolate functional social support as well as "structural" social supports (marriage, living with children). The principal findings comport with prior work: the strongest determinants of the use of health services by the elderly are those that relate to need. In addition, structural social support impacts use but demonstrates complex patterns. The availability of family support increases physician visits while diminishing the probability of a hospital stay. Increased Western physician use ties to increased use of Chinese physicians and increased hospitalization. Functional social support plays a role as well. Finally, income effects did not play a large role in determining the use of health services among this population.

This paper is about western physicians in general, and the Israeli variant in particular. The theoretical focus will be on the nature and dynamics of the medical professional self within this interplay between the cultural concepts of universality and difference. The discussion will address the genesis of this professional self and the implications of its extraordinary strength and tenacity, which has endured for centuries in different local contexts wherever western medicine has existed. The impetus for this study is the subdued rumbling which is echoing throughout the profession suggesting that this self is no longer the "Rock of Gibraltar" that it seemed in the past.

Use of Chinese Therapies Among Chinese Patients Seeking Emergency Department Care

Medikalisaation rinnalla länsimaissa on edennyt paramedikalisaatio: lääketieteen ulkopuolisten terveysuskomusten korostuminen. Kansanomaista lääkintää on harjoitettu ympäri maailmaa; se voi erota nykylääketieteestä menetelmillisesti ja kysymyksenasettelunsa mukaan. Ilman toisenlaisen lähestymistavan ymmärtämistä vaihtoehtolääkintä voi vaikuttaa irrationaaliselta. Lääkärin rooli on kahtiajakoinen: toisaalta ymmärtäjän, toisaalta tuomarin. Sairas voi kaivata varauksetonta ymmärrystä, johon parantaja roolinsa ristiriidattomuudessa sopii. Lääketiede on luonnontieteellistyessään vaarassa menettää otteen ihmisen kokemuksesta. Vieraantuminen siitä osasta ihmistä, joka ei ole tieteellisesti tarkasteltavissa, ei välttämättä palvele terveyttä. Irrationaalisilla, tieteellisesti tarkastellen naiveilla tekijöillä voi olla hyvinkin ihmisen hyvinvointia ja terveyttä tukevia vaikutuksia. Näiltä vaihtoehtolääkintä ei ainakaan aliarvioi.

A caregiver from the dominant U.S. culture and a patient from a very\ndifferent culture can resolve cross-cultural disputes about treatment, not by\ncompromising important values, but by focusing on the patient's goals.

The management of illness by a Filipino psychic surgeon: A western physician's impression

In comparing traditional Chinese (or Far Eastern) and modern Western medical theories we find decisive differences between both appraches. As far as I can see their different epistemological foundations are not specifically well understood or even overtly misinterpreted in the today's world of acupuncture. Thus, for instance, some Western doctors who have been exclusively trained in the Western so-called scientific way of medical thinking turn to Chinese medicine and acupuncture, treat patients, do research work and clinical trials without understanding the thoroughly different levels of awareness of the two medicines. The scientific outcome generally is poor or at least confusing. Moreover, by this one-sided interpretation Chinese medicine and acupuncture are seriously endangered to loose their fundamental significance and, of course, simultaneously much of their original forceful healing capacities. In the following paper I will give an explanation why this is so, and I will describe the classical rendering of the clinical effects of acupuncture points which are closely linked to traditional Chinese (or Far Eastern) syndrome or pattern diagnoses.Most important for a proper understanding of Chinese medicine is to recog nize that it outlines the human being as a specific system which can be characterized as a feedback control system concerning itself with the organism as a whole. This means that it has reached a standard of quality which modern scientific medicine has yet to attain. The latter, because Western medicine is deliberately restricted in its methods to a knowledge of parts and isolated aspects. Although this in a few individual cases may be extremely important, it can never arrive at a rational, unified concept of health or sickness. With the help of Chinese diagnostics and as a result of examinating the patient directly the Chinese doctor is able to analyse the symptoms he finds in the light of his thorough understanding of the human organism as a unified system. On this way he comes to a genuine recognition of the various diseases of Man from the inside. Whereas the Western physician whose methods only supply him with partial perception gathered from a multitude of data based on measurements must, by this very fact, remain at a superficial level of understanding, namely at the outside. Establishing a diagnosis along the lines of Chinese traditional medicine is the actual medical task of the Eastern doctor and the logical point of departure of every sensible acupuncture treatment.

The anti-inflammatory drug Voltaren (0-(36-dichlorophenyl)-amino acetate) is a relatively new substance in the systemic treatment of various pain inducing diseases related to the musculoskeletal elements. In order to achieve effective results, relatively high dosage, applied P.O.P.R. or I.M. should be used for prolonged periods. The acupuncture methods presented the eastern minded western physician with a detailed list of trigger points which may have abrogated certain painful symptoms when appropriately used by acupuncture maneuvers alone. In the present study the possibility of using the appropriate acupuncture point GB 20 for the injection of Voltaren, in an attempt to relieve stable and prolonged tension headaches, has been considered. Thus, acceptable and combined eastern-western treatment method, if found successful, may be evolved. GB 20 point has been selected because of its effective influence among others, on tension headaches, a highly common and most distressing syndrome poorly treated by conventional approaches in most clinics.

The application of an ultrasound stimulus to the acupuncture meridian system has been found safe and effective in many common clinical entities for which no such treatment exists. Comparison of 150 treatments with sonopuncture compare favorably with 900 cases treated with needle acupuncture. The method offers several advantages to the Western physician — familiarity with the equipment, greater patient acceptability, and a wider treatment surface than needles. Treatment regimens for cervical and low back pain syndromes and dysmennorrhea are presented.

Ex Africa semper aliquid novi — There is always something new from Africa. (Proverbial from Pliny.) DURING the past decade increased attention has been focused on Africa and the nations that have recently become independent. This interest has mainly involved the implications of their economic potential and political activities. For several reasons an understanding of the medical problems and needs of these countries is perhaps of more immediate concern to the Western physician. The financial commitment of the United States to these nations is increasing at a rapid rate. One must realize that the future medical development of these areas . . .