The Medicalization of Life, Essay Example

What Schepher Hughes Means By the Phrase “The Medicalization of Life”

The term medicalization refers to the process through which problems and conditions of humans are defined and taken as medical conditions, whereby they become a subject of diagnosis, medical study, and prevention. Notably, medicalization is a concept which was formulated by the sociologists to explain how knowledge of medicine can be applied to behaviours which are perceived as not biological or self-evidently medical. In other words, there are conditions such as ataque de nervos in the lives of humans which are not self-evidently medical as well as biological, and they are prevalent in today’s world. Schepher uses the phrase “the medicalization of life” to mean that in life and as people grow, changes may be noted which could include health changes that are negative. According to Scheper, the medicalization process has resulted in the realization of many notable changes such as the medicalization of delirio de rome (Scheper-Hughes 435). There are issues of climate change across the world and people can easily experience these changes at any point in their lives. Therefore, to overcome the changes, which may result in sicknesses and illnesses, it is important for people to medicalize their lives. The phrase “the medicalization of life” is used to mean that people always ensure that they are covered medically all through their lives to overcome sicknesses and illnesses which may arise at any point in their lives. With this in mind, Schepher wants to bring out the idea that relevant parties which should be responsible for medications should come up with ways through which the lives of people will be protected from these illnesses and sicknesses. There should be proposals on how people’s lives should be covered regarding medications. There should also be a definite way through which medicine practitioners should be paid for their services to ensure that they promote, restore and maintain health (Scheper-Hughes 451). In my point of view, governments and the relevant bodies should rise and work hard to ensure that they achieve “the medicalization of life (Scheper-Hughes 432).”

According to Edu, many countries have taken measures to ensure that they provide healthy lives to their citizens. Brazil is one of the countries that have taken such measures. Brazil has also ensured that it has improved the medicine and drugs that are used to treat the sick. To achieve “the medicalization of life,” Brazil has instituted a Unified Health System which provides equal opportunity for all citizens to achieve medication (Edu 562). In recent years, the demand for cosmetic surgery has been steadily rising in Brazil. For her to be able to help citizens, Brazil has instituted public hospitals which offer cosmetic surgery for free. To achieve the latter issue, cosmetic surgery in Brazil is funded by supported by municipal and federal budgets. For example, the Catholic Charities and the state health system usually funds the Santa Casa hospital which is in downtown Rio, for the hospital to charge a relatively smaller fee to cover anaesthesia and medical materials for cosmetic patients (Rohden 6). The government of Brazil is also working to ensure that it has medicalized childbirth. A pregnant mother is treated in such a way that the children who are to be born are safe and free from diseases. Additionally, Brazilians have also medicalized names. Examples of the names that are medicalized include; Tobramycin, Anador, and Novalgin.

As Brazil has done, different countries and other relevant institutions need to ensure that they introduce the system of medicalization of life to their citizens and followers to help in fighting the diseases and illnesses that threaten their people. This can be achieved by ensuring that the medical care (tratamento) system which is being introduced is fit for all citizens and affordable to people across all ages.

Works Cited

Edu, Ugo Felicia. “When Doctors Don’t Tie: Hierarchical Medicalization, Reproduction, and Sterilization in Brazil.” Medical anthropology quarterly 32.4 (2018): 556-573.

Modesto, Antônio Augusto Dall’Agnol, and Marcia Thereza Couto. “Erectile Dysfunction in Brazilian Primary Health Care: Dealing with Medicalization.” American journal of men’s health12.2 (2018): 431-440.

Rohden, Fabíola. “Adjusting hormones and constructing desires: new materialisations of female sexuality in Brazil.” Culture, health & sexuality (2019): 1-14.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. “The Madness of Hunger: Sickness, Delirium, and Human Needs.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, vol 12, no. 4, 1988, pp. 429-458.