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As a medical sociology researcher/postgraduate professor I find your
article very interesting and highly relevant. Years ago I did some
reaseach about the content of the newspaper news about abortion in Mexico
and since then I have found little public and professional awarenes of the
problem of the representation of reality that the health news create. At
the moment I am doing research on the social construction of medical
complaints and I have found that one of the greatest problems of the
malpractice crisis is the biased notion of what a medical complaint is,
much of this caused precisely by the way that the news about medical
claims are constructed.
I think that more of this type of research can be very helpful in
constructing the now distorted image of what can medicine do and what are
their limits. A better understanding of these problems can certanly help
to have a better doctor-patient relationship and, hopefully to
counterbalance the medical malpractice crisis.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
06 December 2004
Claudia B. Infante
Postgraduate professor
National Autonomous University of Mexico. School of Medicine
I am the health reporter for The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, and the
only designated health care reporter in a community of nearly 300,000
people. For years, I have thought, privately and aloud, the very issues
you raise about TV health-care reporting.
Thank you, thank you for this excellent article. I have already passed it
on to several public information officers of various organizations who
have been frustrated with TV reporting.
Jennifer L. Boen
The News-Sentinel
This kind of research can improve doctor-patient relationships
As a medical sociology researcher/postgraduate professor I find your
article very interesting and highly relevant. Years ago I did some
reaseach about the content of the newspaper news about abortion in Mexico
and since then I have found little public and professional awarenes of the
problem of the representation of reality that the health news create. At
the moment I am doing research on the social construction of medical
complaints and I have found that one of the greatest problems of the
malpractice crisis is the biased notion of what a medical complaint is,
much of this caused precisely by the way that the news about medical
claims are constructed.
I think that more of this type of research can be very helpful in
constructing the now distorted image of what can medicine do and what are
their limits. A better understanding of these problems can certanly help
to have a better doctor-patient relationship and, hopefully to
counterbalance the medical malpractice crisis.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests