Reading Analysis #6: Authority and Ideals- Medical Experts

The readings that were assigned for the week looked at the broad topic of “Authority and Ideals”, with a more narrowed focus on “Medical Experts”. Each article that was assigned pertained to the topic of “Medical Experts”, however, each article had different focuses relating to these experts, such as experts in Aboriginal communities, experts on debatable issues such as water fluoridation, the influence of medical experts on adolescences, and finally how gender influenced who the expert was.

In Mary Ellen Kelm’s chapter, “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons: On the Ground with Indian Health Services”, she discusses health professionals, both the doctors of the “relatively well-funded governmental medical system, [and also] the missionaries and field matrons”[1], and how they influence the health system of the Native peoples. It is noted that, even though “missionaries and field matrons appear to have been more highly regarded by contemporary First Nations people”[2], “doctors were meant to be the primary sources of medical care in Aboriginal communities”[3]. Even though the primary form of medical care was supposed to be doctors, they were not all that favoured as opposed to other forms of care. “Aboriginal people frequently complained that doctors refused to attend them when travelling was involved, despite the departmental instruction that stipulated that patients were to be seen on reserve… [it is also mentioned that the] treating of Aboriginal bodies was clearly not always the priority… [In addition to this,] all departmental doctors were drunken, callous incompetents who took the department’s money, never intending to treat Native patients”[4]. It is evident that some of the doctors were not doing their job properly or to the best of their ability, consequently giving them a negative outlook. On the other hand, medical missionaries “were better well suited to serve the First Nations”[5], such as, “their practices often included non-Native residents as well, the missionaries’ main objective was to serve (and hopefully convert) the First Nations”[6]. Overall, it is evident to see the variety of medical experts and how much of an expert they may think they are compared to the opinions of their patients. This article is beneficial when understanding the topic of medical experts because it shows us different ideas of the medical expert and what defines them as an expert. This article also highlights important information in terms of understanding health in Canadian history and how we can connect this past information to our present day medical system.

Continuing on, in Catherine Carstairs’ article, “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 1945-1980”, she looks at experts in the field of water fluoridation. It is noted that “doctors and dentists claimed that water fluoridation was perfectly safe and that is would dramatically reduce the incidence of tooth decay [however] Canadians repeatedly voted against fluoridation”[7]. “The 1950s and 1960s marked a high point in scientific optimism and faith in experts”[8], however, continuing into the decades, “revolts against the experts”[9] began to happen. There was much controversy around fluoridation and how safe it is to health. “Dental researchers studied whether or not the benefits of fluoride could be delivered through other means… one option was fluoride tablets or drops, but studies of their effectiveness were inconclusive… another option was ‘painting the teeth’… finally, toothpaste manufacturers began to produce fluoridated toothpaste”[10]. These modes of fluoride administration showed mixed results, however, it is noted that “fluoridated water could cut tooth decay in children by as much as half”[11]. Even though there could be benefits to fluoridated water, “in Canada, the dental and medical communities feared that not enough was known about the long-term effects of fluoride”[12]. On the issue of fluoridated water, this article really brought into light the faith people had in the “experts”. This article helps us to better understand health and what it is to be a healthy person. This article also gives us better understanding of health in the history of Canada. It allows us to connect past issues and controversial ideas and see how they have changed throughout the decades to the present.

Still discussing medical experts, Cynthia Comacchio’s article, “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70”, focuses on youth, and how “experts” helped influence the health of adolescents. “Adolescents embodied the young nation’s potential… by simple virtue of having reached a certain life-stage during a tumultuous time, they became a ‘youth problem’ that had to be set right by their concerned elders… medical doctors were significant constitutes among those authorized to identify the leading, often over-lapping ‘social problems’ of the day”[13]. It is noted that “between 1920 and 1970… doctors and those concerned more specifically with ‘mental hygiene’… formulated a body of shared ideas and approaches to the all-encompassing ‘health’ of the young”[14]. This article explores the term “experts” in terms of youth and adolescents. The “process of theorizing a modern adolescence unfolded from larger societal developments that witnesses not only the rise of ‘modern experts’… [but also] the new experts did much to influence regulatory policies and programs premised… to define what was ‘normal’ in each life-stage”[15]. Medical expert’s involvement in youth’s health helped to not only define health amongst these adolescents in this time, but also to grow up healthy. An example of this is “the expert’s insistence on the important of parent education also justified extending vigilance into the passage that awaited childhood’s end… for doctors and other ‘child-savers’, the invention of a modern adolescence was a logical extension of the movement to save infant lives and regulate the upbringing of children according to perceived national goals”[16]. This article outlined some aspects of medical experts and how they are influential in the health of youth. This article also shows how in some situations, experts were taking into full consideration regarding health in this time. Not only does this article explains health but it also gives us information and a better understanding of health throughout Canadian history.

Finally, in Nicole Fletcher’s article “‘Doctors are men’: Dr. Elinor Black and Second-Generation Women Physicians”, she discusses female physicians and their rise to be recognized as medical experts. “Women have long been a part of the history of healthcare in the Western world, taking on the roles of midwives, healer, and patients… [and] once the modern profession of ‘doctor’ began to coalesce, women were largely excluded form formal medical education and practice”[17]. “All women physicians who began practice is Canada before 1884 received their schooling outside if the country, usually in the United States, because no Canadian school admitted their sex”[18]. It is noted that “the first wave of women physicians, those who entered the field before the First World War, pave the way in co-education and medical practice for the next generation… The second generation, who entered medical practice in the interwar period, were admitted to medical schools but they only faced quotas and a range of barriers”[19]. It is evident to see that women faced a great deal of difficulty to be considered “experts” but also to be considered equal to the male population in the medical field. “Part of the discrimination women faced sprang from the profession’s masculine culture”[20], and it is noted that “‘women were women and men were men… and doctors were men’”[21]. In terms of gender and the idea of who is a medical expert, the article outlines that “social norms, shared by most male doctors, accepted women in medicine only as nurses”[22], however, some were able “to affirm their higher status… to elevate their own standing as healthcare professionals”[23]. However, these women physicians were still downgraded by their male counterparts. This article greatly shows the struggles of women to be considered as “experts” in the medical field. This article also highlights gender and how powerful it can be in the medical field, which is evidently seen through men only being doctors and women only being nurses. This information within the article is key in understanding both gender and health in Canadian history, and it also gives us more information on who is and is not considered an expert in the medical field.

All four of these articles discuss the topic of medical experts. The first article looked at who are the medical experts and why they are defined as such within Aboriginal communities. The second article discussed experts in the controversial issue of water fluoridation. The third article focused on how the experts influenced adolescences. Finally, the fourth article discussed gender and how gender defines who the expert is. These articles discussed similar topics, but also different, however, they all related back to the main topic of medical experts and give us a better understanding of gender and health in Canadian history.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Mary Ellen Kelm, “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons: On the Ground with Indian Health Services,” in Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950, Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998: 130.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., 134.

[5] Ibid., 144.

[6] Ibid., 145.

[7] Catherine Carstairs, “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 19451980,” Canadian Historical Review, 89 (2008): 345.

[8] Ibid., 348.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., 349.

[11] Ibid., 351.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Cynthia Comacchio, “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 19 (2002): 140.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid., 144.

[17] Nicole Fletcher, “‘Doctors are men’: Dr. Elinor Black and Second-Generation Women Physicians,” History Department- University of Manitoba, No. 80 (Spring 2016): 2.

[18] Ibid., 4.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid., 7.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid., 8.

 

Bibliography:

Carstairs, Catherine. “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 19451980.” Canadian Historical Review, 89 (2008): 345-371.

Comacchio, Cynthia. “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 19 (2002): 139-178.

Fletcher, Nicole. “‘Doctors are men’: Dr. Elinor Black and Second-Generation Women Physicians.” History Department- University of Manitoba, No. 80 (Spring 2016): 2-12.

Kelm, Mary Ellen. “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons: On the Ground with Indian Health Services.” In Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998: 129-152.

 

Reflection:

I chose to add this reading analysis into my ePortfolio, because the topic of it is a main point I am making in my argument of this ePortfolio. This reading analysis focuses on the idea of medical experts and how influential and impacting they are on the lives and health of the individual. As seen in some of the articles in the reading analysis, it discussed doctors and experts and how they knew what was health and how to be healthy, because of their expertise in the medical field. However, not always do medical experts and doctors know and have the correct version of health in the eyes of the rest of the population. An example of this would be putting fluoride in the water, even though there are some health benefits to it in terms of dental health and hygiene, there could also be some negative complications of it towards health. An article in this reading analysis also looked at gendered roles in the medical field. Primarily males were the doctors and the head of the medical field, whereas the females were nurses or in positions below males. Overall, this reading analysis incorporated important parts to support my main argument of my ePortfolio.