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Taylor Bridges 10/7/13 Duffus English 101 Argument paper Imagine, the worlds worst ear infection, the pain and aching that comes along with it. The way our head feels heavy and you have a ragging temperature. The way your ear drum pulses with pain when something is way too loud. How sick and just disgusting you feel because of this ear infection. Now imagine going to the doctor to get it fixed and the doctor giving you medication. But heres the little secret, you didnt know the drug they gave you was a placebo. A couple days later your ear drum ruptures..Want to know why this happened to you, because you out of all the other patients they seen that day just happened to be bipolar, or had some other mentally ill disorder. They treated you differently than they would have treated a normal human being. How does that make you feel? Makes you feel angry right? Join the crowed of other patients that were treated this way because of something they couldnt control. The World Health organization reports that all over the world people with mental and psychosocial disabilities are subject to a wide range of human rights violations, stigma and discrimination. WHO also says that mental health facilities give poor quality care that often hinders the patients recovering ability, (like your ear drum from the first paragraph). According to the article, the living conditions of the patients in these facilities are inhuman and the treatment received is degrading to the patients there. For example, the patients stay

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overmedicated to keep them docile and easy to manage, while other are left for days in their cells, sleeping and urinating in their own defecation. People who are on the outside of these mentally ill hospitals, like people with a mild case of bipolar or schizophrenia are unable to access health services and general social service, which leads to a high morbidity and mortality rate among the mentally ill. People suffering from a mental illness are dying 25 years earlier than the general population. 60% of these premature deaths are from treatable conditions, like cardiovascular, pulmonary, and infectious diseases. (Parks 4) My cousin is one year younger than me and just now starting her junior year in high school. You would think Hayley was normal, until you looked at her medical chart and all the drugs she takes to control her seizures. She will never be able to drive, she will have a hard time going through collage, and her brain is that of a 10 year old little childs. Do the doctors discriminate against her as well? You bet they do. One of the cases I know of, was when we were both little, Hayley and I had both managed to get the flu. I guess running around barefooted in the snow wasnt a very good idea. My recovery time was remarkably faster than hers. While I was sick for what seemed to only be a week or so, Hayley was sick for a month. Hayley and I were the same size, except that I was a head taller than her. They could have given us the same dosage right? Wrong, they gave her a smaller dosage than me, even though the pill looked exactly the same. Maybe they thought the amoxicillin would react badly with her other medicine, but we all know and antibiotic really doesnt have any side effects and it wouldnt mess with her other pills.

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Doctors need to get over there pride and start listening to their patients or patients parents more often. Their pride doesnt allow them to see past the end of their noses. Margaret Underwood knows first-hand about this situation: .Four years ago, the Timaru womans 32-year-old daughter was admitted to Christchurchs Hillmorton Hospital after a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. But despite pleas from Underwood to the hospital that the young woman should be kept secure, her daughter wandered the grounds unsupervised. I used to say dont let her out for walks, she is dangerous. They said they knew best, says Underwood. In July last year the young woman broke into a suburban home, attempting to murder an elderly man with a pair of scissors, and attacking an elderly woman with her fists. Now she is a special patient, confined in a secure unit.Underwoods anxiety these days is that her daughter will at some stage be released from secure care. She says her daughters caretakers have given her little information on what is likely to happen longer term. Whats going to happen to my daughter in six months, or two years or five years down the track? I have no idea (1) If they had listened to the mother of this girl, they would have known to watch her more carefully. The old people wouldnt have been attacked and her daughter wouldnt be confined to a secure unit. A human being should be able to talk to their doctor without fear that they will overthrow what that patient says. They shouldnt have to worry about being discriminated against just because they were born with a mental illness.

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With immense research being done of this topic in the health care field, new classes and new ways of teaching are being introduced every year to help control this situation. One of these projects would have been the Quality Rights Project. It aims to improve quality and human rights conditions of mental health and social care services. Another thing is taking place at The Columbia University Medical center; they have a narrative medicine program. Which starts with the premise that there is a disconnect between health care and patients and that health care workers need to start listening to what their patients are telling them, and not just looking at whats written on their charts. (Garey 1)

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Work Cited Garey, Juliann. When Doctors Discriminate." The New York Times. 10 Aug. 2013, New york final ed.: SR6 Parks, Svendesen et.al., eds. Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness. Alexandria: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors,. 2006 Schlein, Lisa. "WHO: Poor Treatment of Mentally Ill Violates Their Human Rights " Voice of America. 9 Dec 2011. Web. 11 Nov 2013 Laugesen, Ruth. " Communicating care." Sunday Star-Times. 17 Feb. 2002, Sunday Star final ed.: .