Neither Seen nor Heard: The Culture and Consequence of Clinical Dismissal

Abstract: How does the medical establishment make it difficult for chronically ill patients to gain treatment for persistent but non-emergent symptoms? Practitioners’ patterns include dismissal of physical symptoms as psychiatric in origin; attribution of disease symptoms to normative gender differences; and the framing of illness as the patient’s fault, thanks to poor attitude or inadequate self-care. Sarah Manguso draws on her decades of experience as a patient and a writer on medical conditions, challenging health care practitioners to recognize habits of dismissal and approach treatment with greater sensitivity.

Co-sponsored by the Department of English, Schools of Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, and Public Health