Patient as Hero
Such an interesting discussion on the “patient as hero” narrative. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
Halfway through an inspirational talk at a conference, I began to feel uncomfortable.
As the eloquent speaker told a gut wrenching story of injury, despair, recovery and nationally recognised achievement, I became guilty about my unease.
She was a hero, no doubt about it. What she had achieved was extraordinary. With the help of an impressive medical team and her supportive family who never gave up on her, she came through. At one point, she said that she had faced a choice one day: to continue to wallow in self-pity or make the most of the life she had.
People were in tears. Emotional tweets were retweeted and favourited. And I left, puzzled about my reaction. And then I got it.
Patient as super-hero is the new myth. And it is dangerous.
I tweeted into the fray: ‘Not all patients can be heroes. For those with mental health problems, it…
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I agree with the author that patients should not be granted hero status because of their supposed eloquence or inspirational message. Just getting through each day is tough enough for many patients, including me. I applaud the author’s courage to tell it as it is. Thank you for reblogging this. xxx
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What a powerful blog. I couldn’t agree more. When I worked with people with diabetes it was an issue I was very aware of. Living with any longer term illness isn’t exciting, it’s as the author says its monotonous and wearying. It’s the everyday heroes we need to recognise as well as those who manage to get through remarkable things. Thanks for sharing it. X
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