Ethnomedical Approach
The next approach we will look at is the ethnomedical approach, this approach deals with how cultures deal with a disease. With this particular disease hypoplastic left heart syndrome outside of traditional medicine the actual disease would not be able to be diagnosed. This is because to be able to tell if someone has the disease you need to be able to look at the structure of
the heart. Where underdeveloped countries don't have either the technology or the knowledge to diagnose an illness like this. In these cultures is would more than likely revert back to a mystery of magic, like someone had placed a curse on you and your family. There is also the possibility that they would look at it with supernatural or religious implications. For instance that a demon was sucking the life from a child or that a witch had placed a spell on the child. But because there is no actual data on these facts we can only infer these possibilities. But we can look at the culture this disease does cause for the families that are involved. The reality of this disease is the constant bombardment of unimaginable choices that seem overwhelming. In the case of my brother Jacob when it was first discovered that he had this illness the Norwood procedure was still very new. The prior choices were to take the pregnancy to term and then send the child home for whatever brief time it had left in this world. The other choice was to terminate the pregnancy upon discovering the ill fate of the baby. In the case of Jacob my mom felt very passionately about the fact that he was strong enough to endure the gauntlet of procedures to come. Below is a video explaining what people go through in preparation for the birth of child with this condition. After everything had been decided and the plans made for the long and exhausting recovery process of my brother, then other family decisions had to be dealt with. These included living arrangements, even though by most standards we were very fortunate that one of the best places in the world to have the procedure done was right down the road from Lansing in Ann Arbor at Motts Children's Hospital. At that time my mother and father both took time off of work to be with and help care for my brother while staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Ann Arbor. While I stayed home to continue to go to high school while visiting on the weekends. We had to do this for several months three times in the first two years of Jacob's life to complete his hearts reconstruction. Jacob has been fortunate to have not had any heart related complications unlike the boy pictured above who just finished receiving his second heart transplant.
the heart. Where underdeveloped countries don't have either the technology or the knowledge to diagnose an illness like this. In these cultures is would more than likely revert back to a mystery of magic, like someone had placed a curse on you and your family. There is also the possibility that they would look at it with supernatural or religious implications. For instance that a demon was sucking the life from a child or that a witch had placed a spell on the child. But because there is no actual data on these facts we can only infer these possibilities. But we can look at the culture this disease does cause for the families that are involved. The reality of this disease is the constant bombardment of unimaginable choices that seem overwhelming. In the case of my brother Jacob when it was first discovered that he had this illness the Norwood procedure was still very new. The prior choices were to take the pregnancy to term and then send the child home for whatever brief time it had left in this world. The other choice was to terminate the pregnancy upon discovering the ill fate of the baby. In the case of Jacob my mom felt very passionately about the fact that he was strong enough to endure the gauntlet of procedures to come. Below is a video explaining what people go through in preparation for the birth of child with this condition. After everything had been decided and the plans made for the long and exhausting recovery process of my brother, then other family decisions had to be dealt with. These included living arrangements, even though by most standards we were very fortunate that one of the best places in the world to have the procedure done was right down the road from Lansing in Ann Arbor at Motts Children's Hospital. At that time my mother and father both took time off of work to be with and help care for my brother while staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Ann Arbor. While I stayed home to continue to go to high school while visiting on the weekends. We had to do this for several months three times in the first two years of Jacob's life to complete his hearts reconstruction. Jacob has been fortunate to have not had any heart related complications unlike the boy pictured above who just finished receiving his second heart transplant.
Bibliography
image: "Colter Meinert, 9, gets second heart transplant" http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/imageDetail?format=plain&source=http://abcnews.go.com/images/Health/abc_colter_2_thg_120430 accessed August 14, 2013
"Delivery of a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT__Se9j9Vo accessed August 15, 2013
image: "Colter Meinert, 9, gets second heart transplant" http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/imageDetail?format=plain&source=http://abcnews.go.com/images/Health/abc_colter_2_thg_120430 accessed August 14, 2013
"Delivery of a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT__Se9j9Vo accessed August 15, 2013