Faculty Advisor(s)
Amanda Caleb
Abstract
For my poster presentation, I chose how disease, illness, and sickness are defined differently in medicine. Specifically, the humanities bring awareness to treating the person as a whole rather than their prognosis. The ability to differentiate the aforementioned criteria allows for the individual to have the best treatment and outcome. I decided to show how within Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) there are different definitions of the diagnosis.
The poster delves into the definition of disease as the medical definition of the diagnosis—essentially, what the doctor informs to the patient. With FOP, common characteristic of the disease include stiff rigidity of the shoulders and neck, the inability to walk, and randomized flare-ups that cause painful calcified growths muscles and tissues that surrounds the skeleton.
Illness is how the individual experiences their own prognosis. Jasmin Floyd is an activist who, through social media, has brought awareness to FOP and how she has learned to live with the terminal diagnosis.
Sickness is how society has stigmatized the diagnosis. Flare-ups due to FOP cause people to look different than others. Creating a hurdle that may not have been addressed in the disease diagnosis as something an individual has to think of. How will society view me? Comments like mannequin and statue are a few examples of the negative connotations used.
To conclude, the humanities in health care bring awareness to treating the person as a whole rather than their prognosis. Having the ability to differentiate the aforementioned criteria allows for the individual to have the best treatment and outcome.
skeleton, FOP, disease, illness, sickness
Publication Date
2021
Document Type
Poster
Department
Medical & Health Humanities
Keywords
skeleton, FOP, disease, illness, sickness
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Medical Humanities
Recommended Citation
Paciga, Emily, "Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva -Second Skeleton" (2021). Student Research Poster Presentations 2021. 1.
https://digitalcommons.misericordia.edu/research_posters2021/1