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Text of an e-mail I just sent.
The assumption that people who don't get better aren't trying hard enough can die in a fucking fire.
Hi Morgan,
I read the press release on the FDA's website, here: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm296923.htm?source=govdelivery
I found the discussion of people's experience of GERD treatments problematic.
For example, "There are medications available...for those who do not respond to dietary and lifestyle measures."
This seems to insinuate that there are no people for whom medications AND dietary/lifestyle measures are ineffective.
I don't think this is what you're going for, since the LINX Reflux Management System seems to be aimed at people for whom other GERD treatments have been exhausted/are ineffective (i.e., these people do exist).
The press release also states, "Surgery is also an option for those who do not follow their recommended medical therapy or who want to avoid a lifetime of medical therapy."
This reads to me as, "Surgery is an option if you are naughty/incapable of following medical therapy, or if you are lazy and find medical therapy too much work."
It can also be inferred that GERD is only uncured in people who haven't tried hard enough - either people who refuse to follow medical "therapy" or who don't want to do therapy.
In fact, people exist who have followed therapy and still experience pain.
FDA press releases can be read both by patients and by doctors. While you might assume that patients are more "sensitive" than doctors, I think that using language like this can reinforce some doctors' negative opinions of patients - that medicine will always cure them, and that if it doesn't, it is somehow their fault. I think this is a detriment/disservice, and I hope that such framings of chronic illness, possible cures, and patient effort could be avoided in the future.
Respectfully,
[name]
The assumption that people who don't get better aren't trying hard enough can die in a fucking fire.
Hi Morgan,
I read the press release on the FDA's website, here: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm296923.htm?source=govdelivery
I found the discussion of people's experience of GERD treatments problematic.
For example, "There are medications available...for those who do not respond to dietary and lifestyle measures."
This seems to insinuate that there are no people for whom medications AND dietary/lifestyle measures are ineffective.
I don't think this is what you're going for, since the LINX Reflux Management System seems to be aimed at people for whom other GERD treatments have been exhausted/are ineffective (i.e., these people do exist).
The press release also states, "Surgery is also an option for those who do not follow their recommended medical therapy or who want to avoid a lifetime of medical therapy."
This reads to me as, "Surgery is an option if you are naughty/incapable of following medical therapy, or if you are lazy and find medical therapy too much work."
It can also be inferred that GERD is only uncured in people who haven't tried hard enough - either people who refuse to follow medical "therapy" or who don't want to do therapy.
In fact, people exist who have followed therapy and still experience pain.
FDA press releases can be read both by patients and by doctors. While you might assume that patients are more "sensitive" than doctors, I think that using language like this can reinforce some doctors' negative opinions of patients - that medicine will always cure them, and that if it doesn't, it is somehow their fault. I think this is a detriment/disservice, and I hope that such framings of chronic illness, possible cures, and patient effort could be avoided in the future.
Respectfully,
[name]