Opinion | Not Every Pandemic Needs Someone to Blame
Illness has lengthy been weaponized in opposition to those that are perceived as “different.” From the bubonic plague of the 14th century to tuberculosis and H.I.V., the examples echo all through the historical past of medication. When individuals are frightened, they search somebody responsible, to create a story — even when that narrative is fake — wherein illness is punishment fairly than a random unfortunate occasion.
After all, well being care staff ceaselessly look after sufferers who’re struggling, both instantly or not directly, on account of actions they’ve taken. We transplant organs for these with liver failure after cirrhosis after years of alcohol abuse, with coronary heart failure after many years of poor weight loss plan and little train. A lot of what we do within the hospital is about second possibilities, about care with out judgment.
And but the thought of culpability, whether or not our sufferers are innocent of their ailments, continues to be current. Once we see sufferers with lung most cancers, as an example, we point out whether or not they had a historical past of cigarette smoking. The younger mom with a lung mass who has by no means smoked represents a tragedy; an older man who develops most cancers after 50 years of smoking elicits a unique response. That’s to not say that the drugs we provide is completely different, not in any manner that’s measurable. However the distinction issues. It impacts the best way we body the story, the best way we perceive the world.
Illness that has no clarification in conduct is terrifying. It’s a reminder that it doesn’t matter what we do, regardless of how cautious we’re, any of us might fall ailing and die. It’s a reminder that none of us are secure. Which is one motive the coronavirus was so scary to these of us in well being care. The illness didn’t simply break by way of the boundaries between physician and affected person, it decimated them. We had been all weak. And at first I assumed that vulnerability may enhance empathy, however then, as time went on, that empathy waned. And we, too, started to seek out an “us” and a “them.”
It occurred first with masks. Sufferers who didn’t put on masks had been, in some methods, answerable for their very own sickness. We turned much more annoyed, and extra snug with overtly discussing that frustration, when it got here to sufferers who weren’t vaccinated. There have been well being care staff who railed in opposition to the thought of providing superior and scarce assets like a lung bypass or transplantation to unvaccinated sufferers with life-threatening illness.
