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I was amazed by Mori's description of trying to find someone's home in Japan. I'm wondering how the postman can deliver mail to the correct address.
I was also surprised by the practice of doctors not sharing information with their patients about their illness or prognosis. I can understand the idea of not wanting to make someone feel depressed or sad, but I would be angry if someone wasn't telling me the truth about my personal health. As Mori says, it takes a lot of trust to let someone else make your decisions for you. I think it would be very hard for me to give up control.
I wondered too about Mori's aunt Akiko being vague about her health. She must have known something was wrong with her. Did she prefer not to know the details of her condition? Or perhaps she knew but didn't want to talk about it?
I still find it very confusing when people speak about health issues in Italian. In part, it's because I don't know very much medical vocabulary, but I think it's also due to the fact that people speak about illness in a very different way. I'm used to talking directly with my doctors, friends, and family about my health concerns, and I think the Italians tend to be more vague and to talk around the problems. I find this very confusing and frustrating.
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Hi, Jennifer. I didn't know the way the Italian speak about illness is different from the American. The attitude the Italian have about the illness may be similar to that of the Japanese. As Mori says, the Japanese speak vague about illness and tend to keep secret especially about serious illness, for example cancer. Recently people have been discussing in Japan whether the doctor should say directly to the patient about the cancer or not. I think it is a very difficult problem.
ReplyDeleteHi Miwa - that is very interesting. Can you tell us why some people in Japan would like to change the way doctors and patients communicate about illness?
ReplyDeleteIn Japan, people have thought that the patient would be shocked and lose the energy to live if he knew the truth of the cancer. But it is against the right to know, in addition, the patient might want to know the truth and make meaningful use of the rest of lifetime. Recently people have been discussing as stated above.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that some people get depressed and lose the will to live when they find out they have a terminal illness. I can understand the concept of wanting to protect someone from these feelings, but I always want to be able to choose exactly how I want to live my life, even when the news is bad. I would hate the idea of not being able to say goodbye properly to my loved ones or to leave unfinished business or bad feelings with people I know.
ReplyDeleteIt was shocking to me that doctors and family would keep the patient's conditions in secret.
ReplyDelete