The Poems by Williams and Coulehan, Essay Example

Poetry

The poems by Williams and Coulehan, if they represent the feelings of doctors in general, express an appreciation of life and humanity far beyond any typical idea of the “doctor.”  If we tend to believe that, on some deep level, doctors have an immense esteem for life, it is also usually concealed and the external presence of the strictly medical person dominates.  We believe they care, but the practical concerns of the profession are usually only what is revealed.  These poems, however, defy any such idea.  On one level, this occurs simply because these are doctors who feel the need to express themselves through the form.  It seems almost remarkable but these are doctors who are artists or, more interestingly, being a doctor translates to having an artistic soul.  For example, and the reality behind the poem aside, Williams’s lines, “so much depends/ upon/ a red wheel/ barrow,” have a visceral force all their own.  If the reader does not know what is at stake, the simplicity of the image and the imperative suggest a life and death connection, likely going to a child.  There is the sense that the doctor has expanded his vision from the patient or case, and taken in what has the greatest meaning to that patient.

Similarly, Coulehan transcends any strict concern with physicality and invests his entire being within the reality of life and death.  A 600-pound man is a tragic figure, but this doctor is haunted by the deceased giant, and in a way demanding deeper connection and a recognition of surreal possibilities: “I paddle to his shore/ in search of those flamboyant trees/ that flame his flanks.”  The poetry is in place to create a different – and wonderful – reality for a patient who, in the eyes of many, would be only morbidly obese and pitiable.  Both the action taken in the lines and the doctor/poet’s vision of the man as grandiose then reveal a doctor with a soul equally large, and able to see far beyond an extreme and diseased physical state.

Williams and Selzer

The article by Williams reinforces the point made in the discussion of his single poem.  It is a self-analysis and, through the prose, he is able to explore the singular nature of being doctor and writer.  There is absolutely no contradiction in the dual existence, and this is because Williams as doctor consistently perceives himself as “patient”; he has the profound sense that we are all one, and caring for others creates the vital connection generating this knowledge: “It was myself, naked, just as it was, without a lie telling itself to me in its own terms.” Williams engages with the practicality of his work as a physician, but always with an eye to its power to bring people together in a way that is vital: “Do we not see that we are inarticulate? That is what defeats us.”  As doctor and writer, he confesses to spying and intruding, and many references are made to people and existence as “laid bare.”  Nonetheless, this is his deepest concern and it affirms that, as a doctor, Williams seeks truth in the ways of the poet as well.

The Selzer account is disturbing on many levels, but what emerges is that he is a doctor deeply invested in what is beyond the physical condition.  He approaches the patient with the curiosity of an ordinary person; what is he thinking, feeling?  How does he perceive his extreme disabilities?  The most important aspect of this is that Selzer is open to whatever possibilities are real, and because he has an inherent regard for anyone who can endure this state of helplessness.  The nurse’s view is strictly pragmatic; his throwing to the wall of his breakfast is a problem, and she sees no further than that.  Similarly, the aide is unable to see beyond duty, which may be a defense mechanism, and condescends to the man.  What is killing the man may be an extremely virulent cancer, or the gangrene that took his legs may have infected his entire being.  Beyond anything else, however, what stands out is Selzer’s own sense of helplessness in regard to an unthinkable misery, as well as his profound respect for the man who endures in the only ways he can.

Patch Adams

To say that Patch Adams has a radical approach to health care is to understate his convictions.  When he addresses the audience in his lecture, the most striking quality is in fact conviction.  He speaks with absolute authority about his practice and beliefs, and his description of the hospital in question, created by himself and peers, is virtually unthinkable in terms of efficient health care as it traditionally exists.  In plain terms, Adams asserts that the only way the facility could function was through all concerned working other jobs; they worked for the privilege of caring for the sick.  This is a remarkable model, and as deserving of praise as it is unlikely to ever be adopted as a common model in the profession.  It is a kind of absolute ideal of what health care should be.

Clown in Kabul and the Robin Williams portrayal of Adams very much underscore how unconventional he is.  In Kabul, Adams simultaneously challenges every typical idea of how a doctor must appear and behave, and also presents the underlying commitment to care that seems to be his deepest nature.  Williams also expresses this duality, that of the “lunatic” who is in fact a highly knowledgeable and driven health care provider.  Nonetheless, the question remains regarding how any such health care model could exist efficiently.  It cannot.  More exactly, it cannot within the confines of Western culture as it functions itself.  Adams insightfully demands that the concept of debt be removed from health care, but the reality is that medicine is an industry in the West, and this foundational aspect renders his model virtually impossible.  Consequently, the only way in which the Adams model could be feasible is that of the culture revising all its traditions of health care, and a complete distancing of it from the commercial platform so long defining it.  It is then unrealistic to foresee a day when this model would be embraced, and therein lies the tragedy of it.  Completely humanist, Adams’s model defies existing care, even as it presents a rational and ethical version of what it should be.