Abstract
This manuscript studies in detail, following a discourse analytical approach, medical consultations in which a patient’s religious belief does not allow blood transfusion to be administered. The patient is a young Jehovah's Witness suffering myeloid leukaemia who is being treated in a Catholic cancer hospital where the practice of blood transfusion forms part of the standard protocol to treat the disease. The consultations under analysis take place in a Chilean cancer clinic where mainly the oncologist and a Jehovah’s Witness Representative (JWR) present discuss and negotiate expert information on the substitute methods to be used. The exchange dynamics of the consultations differ from the usual visits where the medical knowledge and expertise is primarily in the hands of the medical practitioner. In these encounters, the JWR shares vital information with the oncologist providing the basis of the treatment to be used. This shifting of the balance of power—which could have been a cause of tension in the visit and a contributing factor in the disruption of communication—has instead brought light to the encounter where the negotiated treatment has been achieved with relative ease. The patient’s future is in the hands of the oncologist and the JWR, and their successful negotiation of treatment has made it possible to cater for the particular needs of a JW patient. Sharing different medical practices has not been an obstacle, but an opportunity to find out ways to deliver equity access and well-informed practices to a non-conventional patient.
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Acknowledgments
The data collection for this project was made possible with the financial support of the Monash Small Grant Scheme. My special thanks go to Dr Pablo Bertín who unreservedly supported this project. His insights into oncology in Chile and elsewhere were pivotal to the realisation of this project.
I would like also to thank every colleague, at the clinic, who assisted me during the data collection. Last but not least, I take this opportunity to sincerely thank every one of the patients who gave their consent to be part of this study. The patients shared with me profound and intimate stories about their ordeal with the disease and the impact it had on their families, friends and their daily lives.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Example 1 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 12 | MO | hacemos las quimioterapias eh que son tratamientos muy estándar en |
13 | todo el mundo para este tipo de tratamiento prácticamente | ||
→ | 14 | en todos lados es idéntico pero la gran mayoría de los | |
15 | pacientes requieren transfusiones primero de plaquetas y | ||
16 | después de glóbulos rojos | ||
… | |||
19 | pero me interesa que quede absolutamente claro eh | ||
→ | 20 | generalmente nosotros transfundimos a los pacientes/antes | |
→ | 21 | de que tengan un problema |
Example 2 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 17 | MO | eh firmado el compromiso de no transfundirlo con el |
18 | cual yo estoy de acuerdo |
Example 3 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 22 | MO | … a uno le hace tener muy poca experiencia en casos en que |
→ | 23 | no se usa en transfusiones |
Example 4 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 31 | MO | … me interesa tener claro que cosas si vamos a poder |
32 | usar que eventualmente nos puedan ayudar | ||
→ | 33 | hm yo sabía que tú ibas a buscar información |
Example 5 (MO = male oncologist, JWR = Jehovah’s Witness Representative)
→ | 36 | JWR | = hay varios artículos médicos que muestran el manejo |
→ | 37 | de anemia aguda anemia o leucemia <?> leucemia | |
→ | 38 | aguda en Testigos de Jehová e incluso hay unos que también | |
39 | sugieren la ((medicina A)) también como [((medicina A))] | ||
40 | MO | [Sí no] indudablemente <?quenel> vamos a usar ah en | |
→ | 41 | el vamos a usar el ((medicina A)) que es un <?trans?> | |
42 | yo creo que si ustedes eh pueden aportar podemos usar | ||
43 | además la ((medicina A)) que nos va a ayudar en la | ||
44 | recuperación de los glóbulos rojos | ||
45 | y yo utilizaría también factores de crecimiento de | ||
46 | los <granulocitos> para que el periodo de neutropenia | ||
47 | eh fuera más corto. | ||
… | |||
→ | 88 | Bueno puedo decirte que todas las revistas son revistas que | |
→ | 89 | conocemos ampliamente conocidas en todas partes hmm |
Example 6 (MO = male oncologist, JWR = Jehovah’s Witness Representative)
→ | 56 | MO | … pero me interesa escucharlos más a ustedes |
57 | JWR | en esos artículos también que vienen incluido que habla de la (medicina C) | |
58 | MO | [claro] que ayuda a la coagulación | |
59 | [ya] | ||
→ | 60 | Nosotros utilizamos la (medicina C) pero exclusivamente en pacientes | |
61 | que tienen una enfermedad de la coagulación que es la la enfermedad | ||
62 | de von Willebrand? | ||
… | ((explicación de la enfermedad de von Willebrand)) | ||
70 | JWR | <?decía> que evolucionaba <?> se usaba que para para ayudar <?> | |
71 | independientemente de que tiene o no von Willebrand ha sido usado | ||
72 | en <?su prueba> diaria como resultado y en Chile eh no ha sido muy usada este | ||
73 | este método para= | ||
→ | 74 | =Vamos a analizarlo [] vamos a analizarlo= | |
75 | [Cierto] |
Example 7 (JWR = Jehovah’s Witness Representative)
→ | 150 | JWR: | esperamos la información de Estados Unidos que yo creo nos puede |
151 | llegar el lunes |
Example 8 (JWR = Jehovah’s Witness Representative)
→ | 132 | JWR: | yo le pregunté a un oncólogo en Argentina y se ha usado pero |
133 | tampoco ha tenido tan buenos resultados … |
Example 9 (JWR = Jehovah’s Witness Representative)
→ | 64 | JWR: | lo traen lo tienen en Panamá entonces el hematólogo de Brazil que |
→ | 65 | está a cargo de la.. eh de Argentina y Chile entiendo | |
→ | 66 | especialmente Chile estaría muy dispuesto a conversar con Ud con Uds | |
67 | para ver como pueden aplicarlo [eh <?>] | ||
68 | MO: | [Ya ya de acuerdo] |
Example 10 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 92 | MO | … a mí me interesa que tengamos claros todos la estrategia como te |
→ | 93 | digo yo estoy cien por ciento de acuerdo con ustedes que él no va a | |
→ | 94 | recibir transfusión pero por esa misma razón tenemos | |
→ | 95 | que tener la estrategia muy muy clara y saber que cosas se van | |
→ | 96 | a hacer y que cosas no se van a hacer yo estoy de acuerdo | |
→ | 97 | en hacer todo lo que sea posible para ehm para evitarle | |
→ | 98 | cualquier necesidad de transfusión … |
Example 11 (MO = male oncologist)
→ | 149 | es mejor que nada … | |
… | |||
→ | 153 | pudieran significar tener un periodo más corto de recuentos tan bajos | |
→ | 154 | de glóbulos rojos glóbulos blancos y plaquetas |
Example 12 (MO = male oncologist, JWR = Jehova’s Witness Representative)
109 | MO | [Nosotros] hasta el momento le hemos medido [] y eso es normal podemos | |
110 | JWR | [ya] | |
→ | 111 | MO | con el fin de ver si él requiere eso medirle en forma más seguida |
→ | 112 | que no es algo que hagamos habitualmente |
Example 13 (MO = male oncologist, JWR = Jehova’s Witness Representative)
204 | JWR | … eh [<?>] | |
→ | 205 | MO | a [mí] me interesa fundamentalmente que el contacto sea fluído |
Example 14 (MO = male oncologist, JWR = Jehova’s Witness Representative)
→ | 195 | JWR | estamos muy agradecidos de la <?> nosotros [ah] nosotros estamos tenemos |
196 | MO | [muy bien] | |
→ | 197 | JWR | contacto <?> [<?>] y han sido muy amable muy muy realmente <?> el paciente |
198 | MO | [sí no sí sé] | |
→ | 199 | JWR | <?> con mucho respeto y eso nosotros <?> eh [<?>] |
… | |||
→ | 210 | JWR | y y eso va a sensibilizar también a otros médicos al respeto |
Appendix 2
Transcript symbols
Unit | ||
Truncated syllable (first) | , | |
Truncated syllable (middle and final) | - | |
Speakers | ||
Speaker identity/turn start | : | |
Overlapping talk begins | [ | |
Overlapping talk ends | ] | |
Latching | = | |
No silence left between first speaker and second speaker’s turn | ||
Tone | ||
Low falling tone | \ | |
Rising tone | / | |
Pause/silence | ||
Silence timed in seconds | (1) | |
Pause of less than half a second | (.) | |
Pause longer than half a second | (..) | |
Vocal noises | ||
Inhalation | (H) | |
Exhalation | (Hx) | |
Quality voice | ||
Emphasis | EMPHASIS | |
Perceived change based on volume or pitch change | ||
Lower in volume than the rest of the talk | * * | |
Laugh quality | <@@> | |
Lengthening | ||
Vowel/consonant elongation | ::: | |
Transcribers’ perspective | ||
Researcher’s comment | (()) | |
Uncertain hearing | <X X> |
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Cordella, M. Negotiating Religious Beliefs in a Medical Setting. J Relig Health 51, 837–853 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-010-9393-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-010-9393-0