#commercialization of medicine

[haggishlyhagging]

The dangers of the "Male Practice" lay not so much in the gender of its practitioners as in the economics of their situation. The early American regular doctors were not, in most cases, men of wealth and status like the British physicians they took as models. Their survival depended on their ability to convince large numbers of people that healing was a commodity—and that it was well worth paying for. This required that the act of healing become, first of all, tangible and discrete—so you could see what it was you were paying for—and, second of all, quantifiable, so you could be convinced to pay various amounts of money for various "amounts" of healing.

Herein lies a contradiction that haunts regular medicine to this day: healing is not something that can easily be bent into such a form. The medical care which we all recognize without question as a commodity today—something produced by an "industry," bargained for by unions, and paid for by "consumers" (increasingly, with the same credit cards that buy airplane tickets, restaurant meals, and shoes)—is a far cry from the more ancient and holistic notion of healing. Healing cannot be made discrete and tangible; it involves too many little kindnesses, encouragements, and stored-up data about the patients' fears and strengths (all the things trivialized today as "bed-side manner"). It cannot be quantified: the midwife does not count the number of times she wiped the parturient woman's forehead or squeezed her hand. Above all, it cannot be plucked out—as a thing apart—from the web of human relationships which connect the healer and those she helps.

So the problem faced by the early regular doctors (which we might call the congenital defect of commercial medicine) was not merely to convince people that they had something beneficial to sell, but to convince people that they had some thing at all to sell. John Morgan discovered this in his campaign to bring the British distinction between physicians and druggists to colonial America. He tried to persuade his own clients to pay for his services separately from the drugs he prescribed (it was customary at the time for one bill to cover both). But the patients balked: Drugs were one thing, but what were his "services"? Why pay for advice, or for visits from a man who should be concerned about you anyway? Unable to sell himself, Morgan had to be content with selling drugs.

-Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women

[not-your-bro]

supermassive games experience is like

playthrough 1: fuck everything up

playthrough 2: do not fuck ANYTHING up

playthrough 3: fuck everything up (on purpose)

[jojo-heritage-posts]

[wumiings]

“the state preceptor had only ever taught [Xie Lian] how to defend against the wiles of women, not men” and “she’d failed to say: ‘Shen Qingqiu, your fated partner is a fucking man!’” have the same energy adhskdk they’re both just like. well someone should have warned me!!

[oldshowbiz]

OK Tire Stores of Medicine Hat

[an-adhd-infested-nerd]

Me everytime I see someone from Dropout in a commercial: That’s my friend! Thats my friend from Dropout! We went to Game Changer together!

[hanzajesthanza]

i think it would be really funny if regis had a kind of fucked-up haircut

“he could save everyone except himself” but like with regard to the barbery, and not the surgery. kind of like when chefs don’t cook very well for themselves. or when fashion designers wear sweatpants all day.

but moreover. i think the aesthetic effects of a bad haircut would help to dampen his natural lugosian allure and good looks. to reduce any potential suspicions

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

dang I just saw a commercial for migraine medication with Lady Gaga in it and if I'm being honest I feel like she's less cool now

[chaptertwo-thepacnw]

[dude-the-ancient-dragon]

American medicine commercials are like

Live better with Valdivia

*in bed with romantic partner*

Flourish, manifest, grow With Valdivia

*playing with kids*

Ask your doctor if Valdivia is right for you

*Playing sports ball*

Side effects of Valdivia include: Diarreah, nausea and proyectile vomiting, abdominal cramps, sleep paralysis, paranoia, rapid onset dementia, genital necrosis, vomiting blood, liver cirrhosis, respiratory failure, cardiovascular failure, testicular torsion, death, death but more painful, insomnia.

Do not use Valdivia in combination of any other medicine, do not use Valdivia in case of pregnancy or if you ever intend to be pregnant. Do not use Valdivia between before the age of 21. Do not use if you have a heart condition, if you suspect you may have a heart condition or if you think you may ever have a heart condition.

Not recommended for women

Not recommended for men

[epiphainie]

watching 911ls live tonight and god, american commercials are so weird. why is there a tomorrow! the day has arrived!! blockbuster movie ass ad about the ELECTION

[pandorasfruit]

i dont love living in a small country, but it does get really funny when you think about how we basically only have around 30 voice actors max. and that's why sometimes you'll be walking in the grocery store and then suddenly hear Captain America trying to sell you discounted cheese through the speakers.

[marshmellowtea]

watching random analogue horror on youtube to try and distract myself from the horror that is tumblr and general existence and so far i've concluded:

-white stag education is actually really good and i'm curious to see where it goes just based on the handful of episodes that are out now -white door opened is leaving a lot to be desired which sucks because it has an actually really good premise but dear god if they don't stop overusing the analogue horror distorted scary sound bullshit i am going to fucking LOSE IT

[afternoonapocalypse]

Me when I forget to take my meds:

[24-compass-roses]

Even if an environment is polluted by copious amounts of plastic waste, a mother bird will still try to feed her children by bringing them plastic she has scavenged, because she has nothing else to feed them with. Ok now cut to current minimum wage. Ok now cut the rising prices of fresh produce and meats. Ok now cut to the fast food industry.

[jovine]

I wish my body could create one normal bowel movement