When I hear the words John Hopkins Hospital, I think of medical advancement, many medical specialties and quality treatment. Its amazing that a top hospital was built for the sick and poor.
In 1951, people like Henrietta Lacks feared medical institutions like John Hopkins (which she had a right to). These days people run to the doctor's office for the slightest cough. I've ran my own dog to the pet emergency hospital over whimpering.
About The Four Founding Physicians at John Hopkins
This has also been my experience. A friend of mine will take her son to the doctor over a reoccurring "sore throat" and self prescribe antibiotics for a viral infection (against the Doctors wishes of course). This has happened multiple times. It seems strange that people have become so relaxed and reliant on the medical profession. Maybe a bit of fear is a good thing? Life would have been very different in the 1950's...with more "unknown" ailments to contend with and the possibility of becoming another test subject. But, maybe little has really changed, we just choose to look the other way and avoid the truth.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hopkins Hospital was a place where many medical specialties started and it is pretty famous. I had no idea it was built for the sick and poor. Perhaps in the 1950's people were afraid of medical institutions because hospitals then had not only sick people but mentally ill people. Maybe people feared that if they went to the hospital the doctors would not know what was wrong with them and they would end up there until they died.
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ReplyDeleteAbout Henrietta fearing medical institutions...do you think it had something to do with her view on religion and how she viewed "voodoo." I mean it there must be some reason for her to deny all those tests (as her doctor was reading her medical record) for the STDs that she may have gotten from her husband. Maybe she (and her husband) didn't allow doctors to study her cells because she may have felt that they would be taking a part of her for other purpose rather than research.
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