Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper
Scientific research in such fields as medicine requires a particularly careful, scientific approach used by researchers to make the findings of such research scientifically valid and reliable. In this regard, it is possible to refer to studies conducted by Ratcliffe, Skloot, Ostor and other researchers to reveal possible weaknesses that may persist in scientific studies because of the subjective or biased attitude of the researchers to the problem they investigate. At this point, the existing studies often tend to develop their findings and make their conclusions on the ground of evidence collected in the course of the studies but the researchers should be careful in their evaluation and conclusions they make.Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper
Ostor and other researchers place emphasis on the fact that names or naming is very important in medicine and perception of health issues in broader, social and linguistic terms. They explore such linguistic phenomenon as eponyms which are naming issues after names of people. The researchers pay a particular attention to naming various health problems and issues. On studying eponyms applied to medical terms and various health-related issues, Ostor and other researchers arrive to the conclusion that eponyms used in medicine or simply speaking naming of medical terms, diseases, health problems and related issues may be biased and influenced by gender-related stereotyping (Ostoer, et al., 497). As a result, the researchers argue that eponyms or naming various health issues after male and female names may have positive or negative connotation. Moreover, they insist that, as a rule, eponyms have negative connotation in relation of female eponyms, while male eponyms have positive connotation.Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper
At this point, it is possible to question conclusions made by the researchers because they selected eponyms randomly that means that if they find several eponyms based on female names that have negative connotation that does not necessarily mean that all eponyms based on female names have negative connotations. Moreover, the origin of these eponyms is objective in its essence. To put it more precisely, if a disease was named after the female name, this means that a female patient had the disease and researchers investigating the disease just used her name to give the name to the disease. A disease normally has a negative connotation and Ostor and other researchers insist that such naming has the negative, genderly-biased connotation. However, the emergence of eponyms does not depend on researchers gender-related biases. Instead, they are created in the natural way.
At the same time, the similar trend to the development of medical terms may be traced in the language used in the field of medicine. Ratcliff (13) believes that, in such a way, medical terms used the language used in medicine is biased and reveals the gender inequality. The researcher draws numerous examples to prove that the language of medicine tends to use words with the negative connotations in feminine, whereas words that have less negative or positive connotation have masculine words. In such a way, the researcher concludes that the language of medicine is biased on the ground of gender and tends to the discrimination of females.
At first glance, the position of Ratcliffe is quite reasonable since the researcher relies on the empirical evidence and attempts to show that the use of negative language using female-related words, while male-related words used in medicine have rather positive connotation. In such a way, the researcher attempts to prove that such a trend is not just a mere coincidence but, instead, this is a system that can be clearly traced in the medicine and language used in the health care environment.Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper In fact, it is possible to agree with Ratcliffe in the trend to the use of words that have negative connotation and these words have the female background. However, the author attempts to explain its trend by the gender inequality and systematic oppression of women by men. At this point, it is possible to disagree with the researcher because the use of the negative language and the use of feminine words to describe negative issues or terms in medicine is not just the intentional, conscientious attempt of researchers to oppress women in such a way, creating an implicitly negative image of women giving their names or using feminine terms to describe negative issues and phenomena in medicine. Instead, it is important to take into consideration traditions and cultural environment as well as language specificities. For instance, other languages may have a different trend and they do not necessarily attribute female names or female-related words to name negative issues or terms in medicine. In addition, the definition of positive and negative terms made by Ratcliffe is quite controversial. First the researcher does not give the clear definition of what is positive and what is negative term or what term has positive or negative connotation. There are no clear criteria provided by Ratcliffe to make the adequate decision whether the particular word is positive or negative. In other words, she also relies on her personal experience and her subjective perception of negative and positive language. She uses the same notions which she believes to be a priori biased and unfair in relation to women. In such a away, her perception of the medical language may be as subjective as the perception of the average person uses the language which Ratcliffe finds to be genderly-biased.
The book written by Rebecca Skloot also refers to the problem of gender inequality in medicine but she moves to the broader domain and shifts from the language to the field of medical researchers. Moreover, she broadens the scope of her study and respective problems raised in her book. To put it more precisely, her ideas basically match ideas of gender inequality developed by Ratcliffe and Ostor but, in addition, Skloot broadens the scope of her book raising the theme of gender inequality. In her book, she argues that Henrietta Lacks was discriminated because of her gender and race (Skloot, 166). Moreover, the author stresses that race has played the determinant part in her discrimination as her cell samples were used for medical researches without her consent, while results of those researches were published again without her consent.
However, at this point, it is possible to disagree with the author since she insists that the researchers violated basic human rights of Henrietta Lacks because she was African American and, therefore, ignorant and unable to protect her rights properly. In fact, at this point, it is possible to disagree with the author because such idea is also a sort of racial discrimination. Instead of the gender or racial origin of the discrimination of Henrietta Lacks the author should focus on primary causes of the violation of her rights. In this regard, the primary cause of the violation of her rights was her ignorance. She did not have the basic education and she was not fully aware of her rights and liberties. However, it was not her race that prevented her from education or knowledge of her rights and liberties but it is her desperate poverty that prevented her from obtaining education and, thus, becoming aware of her rights and liberties. At this point, it is possible to place emphasis on the fact that virtually any person could become the victim of researchers, if the person was poor, ignorant or illiterate and could not protect his/her rights and liberties.Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper
Thus, the analysis of researches conducted by Ratcliffe, Skloot, Ostor and other researchers reveals the fact that researchers are often subjective in their interpretation of evidence and facts, which they collect in the course of their studies. As a result, they arrive to subjective and questionable conclusions. However, such conclusions are unacceptable for scientific studies. Even if the researchers attempt to reveal biases, stereotypes and discrimination that exist in different fields, such as medicine, they may be also vulnerable to the impact of biases and stereotypes that may affect their researches, findings and conclusions.Using Of Eponyms In Medicine Research Paper