“I asked Wolfgang how long addicts typically had to wait for admission to his clinic. He didn’t understand my question, so I asked again. As I was about to ask a third time, it dawned on me the confusion wasn’t due to language, but to Wolfgang’s inability as a physician to comprehend why any patient should have to wait for treatment.”
Rumpus Women, Vol I, contributor Cheryl Strayed‘s husband, Brian Lindstrom, has written a beautiful, insightful piece about styles of drug treatment and education in Germany and Copenhagen, “Protecting the ‘Least Among Us.’“
2 responses
Thanks so much for posting this, Julie. I love The Rumpus and it’s an honor to be mentioned here.
I love the part about Wolfgang’s inability to comprehend why a patient would have to wait for treatment. Here, in America, it often seems as if there’s an inability to comprehend what it’s actually like for so many kids, homeless people, people with addictions, people with mental illness, etc. I don’t want to make generalizations, but I’ve been exposed to… well, the fact that there’s really this fantasy that the PTA at an inner-city school in, say, Chicago can just fundraise–i.e. have bake sales-—and then have all kinds of resources (like a charter school). There’s this fantasy that a homely 15-year-old boy with symptoms of autism or with substance abuse issues (and homely teens, I think, often really get screwed because they’re no longer “cute†little kids) can get “great treatment because he’s poor,†and if he doesn’t get great treatment, then it must be because his parents weren’t industrious enough, or the boy wasn’t cooperative. This sounds like a rant. I’m sorry! I just really liked your article.
Click here to subscribe today and leave your comment.