Tuesday August 9, 2022; 10:43 AM EDT
- If you say to your doctor, "I have a sore throat," your doctor may take a look in there and say, "You have laryngitis. No need for meds. Call me if it gets worse."#
- If your doctor is used to keeping patients at arm's length from the thinking of medical practitioners, the doc might leave it at that. For the patient, the medical language holds the insights of medicine at arm's length, not fully available for the non-expert to view and reflect upon.#
- If your doctor is more egalitarian, the doc might say, "You have laryngitis, which means you have a sore throat, which you knew when you woke up this morning. You didn't need me to tell you. The body heals most minor illnesses by itself with rest and good nutrition, and I can help you with that kind of knowledge. We can't easily say more about your laryngitis, your sore throat, than that. If you orient yourself towards healthy living, chances are you won't have minor illnesses very often and when you do the body will usually heal itself. This is what we know to be true. Medical experts can get involved in the harder cases, where we may or may not be of use, depending on the case. This is my best understanding of what I or any doctor has to offer you."#
- The doctor has knowledge and social prestige, which amount to a couple of different kinds of power. The doc can acknowledge that power, and what in an egalitarian society should be the limits of that power. The doc can aim that power inward toward ego flattery and wealth, or outward toward healing, and even toward the self-determination of the patient in living one precious life. The doc can share that knowledge and power, out of respect, with another human being. Or the doc can use expertise to hold the other person at arm's length. Part of that power play on the doc's part is social, involving status, involving the barriers of language, training, and privilege. #
- It's a choice that every kind of expert faces. In a society so thoroughly based on siloed expertise as ours is, we readily see more self-aggrandizing made by experts, even well-meaning ones. They don't understand the ethical dimensions of their power, they don't own up to those, and accordingly they can't aim the power fully towards service of the other. They don't share what they know in a life of service. #
- I get these terms, owned, aimed, shared power, and my understanding of them, from Howard Brody, from "The Social Power of Expert Healers" in his book The Healer's Power.#