Personal Responsibility and Illness
On yet another sick day due to URI (upper respiratory infection) exposure, I’ve been tossing around an idea about Western medicine. At first I thought that Western medicine’s conception of germs and microbes had completely divorced any concept of personal responsibility from illness. But I was wrong. It just allowed it to be misplaced.
To be fair, the germ theory probably beats wondering if your great Aunt Sue who had a hate on you since you broke her favorite mirror when you were ten years old, gave you the evil eye and made you sick. But instead Western medicine combined with our capitalist idolization of health and productivity to place the onus of responsibility on sick people themselves. And welcome to ableism 101, tell me something I don’t know already know, Sarah! Okay, Here goes nothing.
So with those two developments, American culture were able to blame the sick (no, I do not mean able bodied people with colds here), and thus convince people with contagious illnesses that there was no real moral or ethical obligation to stay home or moral responsibility for others getting sick from you bringing your contagious self to work, or to that party you just couldn’t bear to miss. It’s not your fault, our culture says, it’s just those pesky germs and bad immune systems. It’s not a conscious choice or act that could be avoided. If you get sick from someone else, it’s like fate, or a really crappy mucous-filled river of destiny that winds you up on weeks of medicine and even more weeks rebuilding up to your usual level of fatigue.
Nothing that Homer would ever write a book about, but still feels pretty epically crappy to go through.
But it’s not, is it? It’s not an act without responsibility. And here I’m not speaking to sick/disabled people who are sick so much that they have to go in sick to keep their jobs and would gladly stay home if they could. Or too poor to stay home but who would also give anything to take care of themselves and not spread their illness. Nor am I talking to people who are marginalized in any way who would be at more risk of losing their jobs, but would also stay home if they could. Nope. I’m speaking to you, healthy people, who get colds or stomach-flus or URI’s and pride yourself on your privilege of “toughing it out” and “getting it done.”
Who insist they’re not contagious even though they can’t look me in the eye (not thinking of any one individual here this has happened so many times I’ve lost count) and sit next to you despite your explanations of having a bad immune system and the personal costs that getting their illness could have for you. And as they cough you tell yourself it will be okay, and not to be paranoid because you won’t get sick this time. You’re walking more and eating healthier. And then the sore throat starts followed by the the thick seal bark cough.
Because exposing people who have more vulnerable systems is not an act without consequence. It is not an act without responsibility. And it is certainly not an act without harm. If I counted up the number of weeks I have lost to being home bound on doctor’s orders because other people decided to come to class, work, or some event with a “harmless” cold, it would probably add up in years at this point. Definitely over one year at least. And let's not talk about the cost of the medicine and doctor's appointments in treating it.
If you think you can’t afford to lose a day’s pay, try asking how much your fellow classmates or office mates can afford to lose weeks, and even months sometimes due to the same bug.
The upshot is yes, there is personal responsibility in illness. Especially with those with compromised systems more vulnerable to infection. Germs and Western understanding of immune systems and microbes do not absolve us from the personal responsibility to protect others in the community who might face far more health effects than a short cold. There is a moral choice and a moral act. And there is personal harm to others done in making the wrong one.
This is not to guilt students who are still sick but are warned by professors that they’ll flunk if they miss more class, or people with long-standing conditions who have to go in to work with a cold because of all the days they might miss due to Crohn’s or Lupus or other long standing conditions. This is hopefully to encourage people to understand that what is just a cold to you may be something more serious and devastating for someone else.
As I’ve repeated several times...it is a moral act and a moral choice. And your decisions have the power to harm or the power to prevent that harm.
To be fair, the germ theory probably beats wondering if your great Aunt Sue who had a hate on you since you broke her favorite mirror when you were ten years old, gave you the evil eye and made you sick. But instead Western medicine combined with our capitalist idolization of health and productivity to place the onus of responsibility on sick people themselves. And welcome to ableism 101, tell me something I don’t know already know, Sarah! Okay, Here goes nothing.
Nothing that Homer would ever write a book about, but still feels pretty epically crappy to go through.
But it’s not, is it? It’s not an act without responsibility. And here I’m not speaking to sick/disabled people who are sick so much that they have to go in sick to keep their jobs and would gladly stay home if they could. Or too poor to stay home but who would also give anything to take care of themselves and not spread their illness. Nor am I talking to people who are marginalized in any way who would be at more risk of losing their jobs, but would also stay home if they could. Nope. I’m speaking to you, healthy people, who get colds or stomach-flus or URI’s and pride yourself on your privilege of “toughing it out” and “getting it done.”
Who insist they’re not contagious even though they can’t look me in the eye (not thinking of any one individual here this has happened so many times I’ve lost count) and sit next to you despite your explanations of having a bad immune system and the personal costs that getting their illness could have for you. And as they cough you tell yourself it will be okay, and not to be paranoid because you won’t get sick this time. You’re walking more and eating healthier. And then the sore throat starts followed by the the thick seal bark cough.
Because exposing people who have more vulnerable systems is not an act without consequence. It is not an act without responsibility. And it is certainly not an act without harm. If I counted up the number of weeks I have lost to being home bound on doctor’s orders because other people decided to come to class, work, or some event with a “harmless” cold, it would probably add up in years at this point. Definitely over one year at least. And let's not talk about the cost of the medicine and doctor's appointments in treating it.
If you think you can’t afford to lose a day’s pay, try asking how much your fellow classmates or office mates can afford to lose weeks, and even months sometimes due to the same bug.
The upshot is yes, there is personal responsibility in illness. Especially with those with compromised systems more vulnerable to infection. Germs and Western understanding of immune systems and microbes do not absolve us from the personal responsibility to protect others in the community who might face far more health effects than a short cold. There is a moral choice and a moral act. And there is personal harm to others done in making the wrong one.
This is not to guilt students who are still sick but are warned by professors that they’ll flunk if they miss more class, or people with long-standing conditions who have to go in to work with a cold because of all the days they might miss due to Crohn’s or Lupus or other long standing conditions. This is hopefully to encourage people to understand that what is just a cold to you may be something more serious and devastating for someone else.
As I’ve repeated several times...it is a moral act and a moral choice. And your decisions have the power to harm or the power to prevent that harm.
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