Patient or Impatient!
Abdul Wahid Shakir
June 25, 2009
They say we should not use words such as 'disabled' or 'handicapped' and instead should use expressions such 'persons with special needs' or 'special needs people' while referring to those with some kind of physical or mental disability. True. We agree heart and soul. No one has the right to insult or degrade another who is crippled by nature by calling them disabled or handicapped.
But what about the prevalent usage of the word 'patient'? Isn't it equally awful or offensive an expression for someone who is in truth 'impatient' because of the urgency of care and attention they require?
Mr. Abdulwahed Al-Mawlawi, the Al-Ahli Hospital-Qatar Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer who is also a celebrated author and scholar, noted in an exclusive interview with this writer, "Patient is an embarrassing expression for the 'Image of God on Earth'," he said while referring to human being. "A man or woman who is simply seeking guidance and care from the more knowing individuals of the field because of something that has occurred with them as a consequence of something beyond their control is called a patient. This is ridiculous," he asserted.
True to Al-Mawlawi's observation, people with some physical condition that has compelled them to proceed to someone else for help are truly more deserving individuals who, like children, are to be dealt with more care, softness and respect than normal individuals. This is in no way to suggest that individuals with normal health condition are to be behaved with in a less respectful or less lenient manner. What it aims to denote is that these people are obviously expected to behave in a less rational and more emotional fashion due to the sufferings in which they find themselves. Therefore, they need to be dealt with in a more loving and respectful manner because of their partial loss of rational balance, and because of the fact that they are, instinctively, likely to respond with more severity than normal individuals. This does not signify either that abnormal behavior on the part of people in need of medical attention is in any way justifiable.
Calling such people 'patients' calls for their being treated in the same way and by the same rules of public dealing as those applied to others. It also increases the chances of irritating and degrading a medical advice seeker, and therefore, drawing a more severe or harsher response from them vis-à-vis the hospital staffs. This explains why there are usually more blues in hospitals between the advice seekers and the hospitals managements.
This certainly necessitates the devising of an expression that suggests more respect, more care and kindness than does the word patient, on the same lines as the expression 'person with special needs' has been preferred over words such as handicapped or disabled. This will increase the sense of goodwill, care and concern in the mind of the needy with regard to the medical service providers.
Al-Mawlawi suggests the use of the word 'guest' instead of patient. He and all of his hospital staffs refer to the people who seek their help as 'guests.' Al Mawlawi has enough reason to justify his claim that patient is an embarrassing expression.
"The word hospital is derived from the Latin word 'hospitalis', which means 'of a guest'. From the same root word such expressions as hospitality, hospitable etc. are derived," he explains adding:
"It's strange that the customers of a hotel are called guests, whereas those of a hospital are called patients. Why shouldn't they also be called as guests? Why shouldn't they also be treated and served as guests in hotels are? Why the minutely needs and wild wishes of a hotel guest are fulfilled, but those of a hospital guest are, in most cases, ignored?"
This clears the difference that we have between the hotel service and the hospital service. Whereas a guest in hotel feels proud of being served as they are, the case in most instances is different for hospital guests. This is because the concept of their being guests in hospitals has not been nurtured. Doctors and nurses everywhere are trained to consider their patients as bodies that are to be dealt with as subjects of their actions, not as their guests.
Some professionals claim that this consideration is necessary or else the doctor or nurse will fail in performing their duty. "How ridiculous!" exclaims Al Mawlawi. "Has a mother failed in performing her duties simply because she loves her child?"
As Mr. Al-Mawlwi points out, the concept of the 'Sick Body' has come from a quarter of Western philosophy of medicine. As the West has itself questioned the utility, legitimacy and ethicality of numerous of its past practices and beliefs, it is high time we now reconsidered not only the blind use of such inherited terms and expressions, but also numerous other practices that are legacies of a few controversial philosophers and writers.
But what about the prevalent usage of the word 'patient'? Isn't it equally awful or offensive an expression for someone who is in truth 'impatient' because of the urgency of care and attention they require?
Mr. Abdulwahed Al-Mawlawi, the Al-Ahli Hospital-Qatar Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer who is also a celebrated author and scholar, noted in an exclusive interview with this writer, "Patient is an embarrassing expression for the 'Image of God on Earth'," he said while referring to human being. "A man or woman who is simply seeking guidance and care from the more knowing individuals of the field because of something that has occurred with them as a consequence of something beyond their control is called a patient. This is ridiculous," he asserted.
True to Al-Mawlawi's observation, people with some physical condition that has compelled them to proceed to someone else for help are truly more deserving individuals who, like children, are to be dealt with more care, softness and respect than normal individuals. This is in no way to suggest that individuals with normal health condition are to be behaved with in a less respectful or less lenient manner. What it aims to denote is that these people are obviously expected to behave in a less rational and more emotional fashion due to the sufferings in which they find themselves. Therefore, they need to be dealt with in a more loving and respectful manner because of their partial loss of rational balance, and because of the fact that they are, instinctively, likely to respond with more severity than normal individuals. This does not signify either that abnormal behavior on the part of people in need of medical attention is in any way justifiable.
Calling such people 'patients' calls for their being treated in the same way and by the same rules of public dealing as those applied to others. It also increases the chances of irritating and degrading a medical advice seeker, and therefore, drawing a more severe or harsher response from them vis-à-vis the hospital staffs. This explains why there are usually more blues in hospitals between the advice seekers and the hospitals managements.
This certainly necessitates the devising of an expression that suggests more respect, more care and kindness than does the word patient, on the same lines as the expression 'person with special needs' has been preferred over words such as handicapped or disabled. This will increase the sense of goodwill, care and concern in the mind of the needy with regard to the medical service providers.
Al-Mawlawi suggests the use of the word 'guest' instead of patient. He and all of his hospital staffs refer to the people who seek their help as 'guests.' Al Mawlawi has enough reason to justify his claim that patient is an embarrassing expression.
"The word hospital is derived from the Latin word 'hospitalis', which means 'of a guest'. From the same root word such expressions as hospitality, hospitable etc. are derived," he explains adding:
"It's strange that the customers of a hotel are called guests, whereas those of a hospital are called patients. Why shouldn't they also be called as guests? Why shouldn't they also be treated and served as guests in hotels are? Why the minutely needs and wild wishes of a hotel guest are fulfilled, but those of a hospital guest are, in most cases, ignored?"
This clears the difference that we have between the hotel service and the hospital service. Whereas a guest in hotel feels proud of being served as they are, the case in most instances is different for hospital guests. This is because the concept of their being guests in hospitals has not been nurtured. Doctors and nurses everywhere are trained to consider their patients as bodies that are to be dealt with as subjects of their actions, not as their guests.
Some professionals claim that this consideration is necessary or else the doctor or nurse will fail in performing their duty. "How ridiculous!" exclaims Al Mawlawi. "Has a mother failed in performing her duties simply because she loves her child?"
As Mr. Al-Mawlwi points out, the concept of the 'Sick Body' has come from a quarter of Western philosophy of medicine. As the West has itself questioned the utility, legitimacy and ethicality of numerous of its past practices and beliefs, it is high time we now reconsidered not only the blind use of such inherited terms and expressions, but also numerous other practices that are legacies of a few controversial philosophers and writers.
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