Main Article Content

Authors

Introduction: Violence is not an inherent byproduct of human relationships, but conflicts are. The factors and circumstances that lead to tension and conflicts between health seekers and Nepali medical establishments and staff members who work there are examined in this article. Development: Embedded with relevant literature review, through the analysis of qualitative information, this part of the article is developed into four different sections. The first part deals with the context of the medical consultations that result in the development of a problematic relationship. This is followed by the examination of different types of violence, confrontations, and protests that emerge through such relationships. The implications of swelling medical promises and consequent heightened expectations are analyzed in the third part whereas the fourth part highlights how the typical medical practices that exist in Nepali hospitals itself is increasing the possibility of confrontations and violence. Conclusions: The frequent occurrence of tussles and medical violence in both public and private hospitals in Nepal suggests that they can happen in any hospital, irrespective of ownership. There is always a communication gap between the service providers and the patient party because of the esoteric nature of medicine. Conflict and violence towards service providers can also thrive in the context of a differential explanatory model of the two sides. The mounting animosity also signals a decline in trust between healthcare providers and seekers in Nepal.

Dahal, K. B. (2024). Ethnographic Investigations into Medical Violence in Nepali Healthcare Facilities. Revista Ciencias De La Salud, 22(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/revsalud/a.12944

Rai SK, Rai G, Hirai K, Abe A, Ohno Y. The health system in Nepal—an introduction. Environ Health Prev Med 2001;6;1-8. doi: 10.1007/BF02897302.

Ashworth HC, Roux TL, Buggy CJ. Healthcare accessibility in the rural plains (terai) of Nepal: physical factors and associated attitudes of the local population. Int Health 2019;11;528-35. doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihz008.

Mishra A. Akasmik bahek swasthya sewa thappa [Text in Nepali- Closure of health services except the emergency ones]. Kantipur, Kathmandu, Nepal; 2006.

Justice J. Policies, plans and people: foreign aid and health development. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1986.

Harper I. Capsular promise as public health: a critique of the Nepal National vitamin A Programme. Stud Nep Hist Soc 2002;7;137-73.

Dahal KB. Anthropology of health seeking practices and consultation with service providers: a study among the women in Nepal’s Tarai [PhD dissertation] submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FOHSS). Tribhuvan University (TU). Kathmandu, Nepal; 2017.

Dahal KB. Why are there escalating incidences of confrontations in Nepali hospitals? an anthropological critique. Molung Edu Found 2020;10 (Special Issue);43-55. doi: 10.3126/mef.v10i1.34028.

Yamin AE, Parra-Vera O. Judicial protection of the right to health in Colombia: from social demands to individual claims to public debates. Hastings Int Comp L Rev 2010;33;431-60.

Bjorkqvist K. The inevitability of conflict but not of violence: theoretical considerations on conflict and aggression. In: DP Fry, K Bjorkqvist, editors. Cultural variation in conflict resolution: alternatives to violence. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.; 1997. p. 25-36.

Das V. Violence, crisis, and the everyday. Int J Middle East Stud 2013;45;798-800. doi: 10.1017/S0020743813000937.

Graeber D. Beyond power/knowledge: an exploration of the relation of power, ignorance and stupidity. Malinowski memorial lecture, London School of Economics and Political Science. Thursday 2006;25.

Farmer P. An anthropology of structural violence. Curr Anth 2004;45;305-25. doi: 10.1086/382250.

Scheper-Hughes N. Death without weeping: the violence of everyday life in Brazil. California: University of California Press; 1992.

NIOSH. Violence in the workplace. DHHS (NIOSH). Publication number 96-100, Cur Intelligence Bullet 57. Atlanta, GA: DOL, Jul. 1996.

US Department of Labor. DOL workplace violence program—appendices. definitions. Author n.d.

The Joint Commission. Physical and verbal violence against healthcare workers. Sentinel Event Alert 2018;(59);1-9. https://www.jointcommission.org/en/resources/patient-safety-topics/sentinel-event/sentinel-event-alert-newsletters/sentinel-event-alert-59-physical-and-verbal-violence-against-health-care-workers/. Accessed January 1 2020.

Security Industry Association. Mitigating the risk of workplace violence in health care settings. London: Security Industry Association; 2017.

Howard J. Howard J. State and local regulatory approaches to preventing workplace violence. Occup Med 1996;11;293-301.

Ramsay MA. Conflict in the health care workplace. Proceedings 2001;14;138-9. doi: 10.1080/08998280.2001.11927749.

Singer M. Developing a critical perspective in medical anthropology. Med Anth quart 1986;17;128-9.

Kleinman A. Patients and healers in the context of culture: an exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine, and psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1980.

Dahal KB. Through the metaphor: reflection and reshaping selves, situations and health. In: LP Uprety, B Pokharel, J Rai, S Dhakal, MS Lama, editors. Contemporary Nepali social and cultural anthropology: a reader. Kathmandu: Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University; 2018. p. 171-93.

Geertz C. The interpretation of cultures: selected essays. London: Fontana Press; 1973.

Eriksen TH. Small places, large issues: an introduction to social and cultural anthropology. London: Pluto Press; 2010.

Van der Geest S, Finkler K. Hospital ethnography: introduction. Soc Sci Med 2004;59;1995-2001. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.03.004.

Miller D, Sinanan J. Visualising Facebook: a comparative perspective. London: UCL Press; 2017.

Merriam SB. Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 2009.

Strauss AL, Corbin JM. Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. CA: SAGE, Inc.; 1998.

Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol 2006;3;77-101. doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

Post A. Upacharma LAPARBAHI (text in Nepali- negligence in the treatment). Annapurna Post, Kathmandu, Nepal, 12/10/2016.

Kunwar S. Galat upacharko kshyatipurti (text in Nepali- compensation for the wrong treatment). Kantipur, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2/3/2011.

Daily K. Pittathaili ko Shalyakriya Garda Jyan Gayo [Text in Nepali- A life is lost while conducting gallbladder surgery]. Kantipur daily, Kathmandu, Nepal, 23/03/2012.

Mishra A. Norvic aspatalle biramiko upachar prakriyama truti gareko thahar (Text in Nepali- Norvic hospital committed error in the treatment process). Kantipur, Kathmandu, Nepal, 10/14/2014.

Sullivan M. The new subjective medicine: taking the patient’s point of view on health care and health. Soc Sci Med 2003;56;1595-604. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(02)00159-4.

Nepali P. Doctor le aba afnai tauko jogaune ki upachar garne? (Text in Nepali- Whether doctors have to save them or treat the patients?). 2018. http://swasthyakhabar.com/news-details/21371/2018-02-22.

Banu P. Norvic ma doctor ko laparbahi le 16 mahine sishuko jyan gaeko pariwarko aarop [Text in Nepali- Family blames that 16 months old baby dies due to doctor’s negligence at Norvic]. Kantipur. Kathmandu, Nepal, 29/08/2017.

Budhathoki P. Chikitsak pani sudhrinu parchha (Text in Nepali- Doctors need to correct themselves). Kantipur, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011/05/11.

Elston MA, Gabe J, Denney D, Lee R, O’Beirne M. Violence against doctors: a medical(ised) problem? the case of national health service general practitioners. Sociol Health Illn 2002;24;575-98. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.00309.

Poudyal S. Consented excesses. Republica Daily, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2011/5/20..

Marasini BR. Health and hospital development in Nepal: past and present. J nep Med assoc. 2003;42;306-11.

Streefland P. The frontiers of western medicine in Nepal. Soc Sci Med 1985;20;1151-9. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90192-3.

Starr P. The social transformation of American medicine. New York: Basic Books; 1982.

Dishanirdesh. A television episode on death, broadcasted on August 17, 2019. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-u8TmGULQk&t=1576s. Accessed August 18, 2019.

Foucault M. The birth of the clinic: an archaeology of medical perception. 2nd ed. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge; 2003.

NMC. NMC-code of ethics. https://nmc.org.np/nmc-code-of-ethics. Accessed August 8, 2020.

Parsons T. The social system. London: Routledge; 1951.

Potter SJ, McKinlay JB. From a relationship to encounter: an examination of longitudinal and lateral dimensions in the doctor–patient relationship. Soc Sci Med 2005;61;465-79. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.11.067.

Gordon DR. Clinical science and clinical expertise: changing boundaries between art and science in medicine. In: M Lock, A Young, editors. Biomedicine examined. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 1988. p. 257-95.

Sullivan M. In what sense is contemporary medicine dualistic? Cult Med Psychiatry 1986;10;331-50. doi: 10.1007/BF00049269.

Gupta A. Red tape: bureaucracy, structural violence and poverty in India. Durham: Duke University Press; 2012.

Kleinman A. Writing at the margin: discourse between anthropology and medicine. Berkeley: University of California Press; 1995.

Pandey NR. Emergency medicine in Nepal: present practice and direction for future. Int J Emerg Med 2016;9;20. doi: 10.1186/s12245-016-0118-3.

He AJ, Qian J. Explaining medical disputes in Chinese public hospitals: the doctor–patient relationship and its implications for health policy reforms. Pol Law 2016;11;359-78. doi: 10.1017/S1744133116000128.

Sevransky JE, Checkley W, Herrera P, Pickering BW, Barr J, Brown SM, et al. Protocols and hospital mortality in critically ill patients: the United States critical illness and injury trials group critical illness outcomes study. Crit Care Med 2015;43;2076-84. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000001157.

Goodyear-Smith F, Buetow S. Power issues in doctor–patient relationship. Health Care Anal 2001;9;449-62.

Ruano AL, Rodríguez D, Rossi PG, Maceira D. Understanding inequities in health and health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: a thematic series. Int J Equity Health 2021;20;94. doi: 10.1186/s12939-021-01426-1.

Henderson S, Petersen A. Introduction: consumerism in health care. In: S Henderson, A Petersen, editors. Consuming health: commodification of health care. London: Routledge; 2002. p. 11-20.

Public Health Service. Nepal Law Commission Act. 2018. http://www.lawcommission.gov.np/en/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-Public-Health-Service-Act-2075-2018.pdf.

Dahal KB. Engrained with modernity: commodification, medicalisation, and cross-border medical travel for health care in Nepal. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 2022;9;128. doi: 10.1057/s41599-022-01155-y.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.