Effect of Social Class on Medical Care - Report Example

Effect of Social on Medical Care The United s has great concern for the health of the citizens that is in accordance to the world health organization recommendations to each nation. This has led to the introduction of the affordable health care act (ACA) that was passed by the parliament in 2009. The act is mostly associated with the Barrack Obama due to his support in its implementation as the president. The aim of the act is to provide health care to everybody and to make it more affordable to the citizens whose financial position would limit them from getting good medical care. The implementation of the act is under the United States department of health and human services that ensures the good health of the citizens maintained(Janny, 1). ACA controls how health insurers deal with the citizens who seek medical insurance in their companies and controls the quality of medical care offered in health institutions. Scott published an article that showed the relationship of social class and medical care. The journalist based in new yolk published the article May 16, 2005 focusing on how three people affected by heart attack recovered from their illness. The names of these people were Will Wilson, Ewa Rynczak Gora and Jean Miele .Gora was from a financially low class since she was a housekeeper while Miele came from a high social class and professionally he was an architect. In this article, Janny Scott uses these individuals to bring out her points in the relationship of medical care and social class. Miele was an architect and businessperson aged 66 who belonged to the upper middle class and was also involved in running of business. He was highly educated a factor that promoted his fast recovery from the heart attack. Earlier on, a he had experienced a heart attack and was recommended to stop smoking and his conditioned had gotten better. His level of education made him understand the effect that not quitting smoking would cause to him. Due to his education, he was well informed and had an insurance plan to cover him against medical illness and hence the cost of the treatment was not an issue. His financial position that came due to education allowed him to access high quality medical treatment when he experienced a heart attack(Janny ,2). When this happened, he was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance and a cardiologist started taking care of him immediately. The kind of medical attention he received was dictated by the amount of money that he was supposed to pay upon recovery. The cardiologist examined the situation and upon realizing that his arteries were blocked, he reopened them in a period not more than two hours. The people around Miele were very influential to his recovery. They were able to call for an ambulance when he got ill since they also understood the consequences that would follow if they failed to do so and they rejected his request for a taxi instead of the ambulance. He was taken to a high quality health institution around the city where he worked and upon arrival no delays took place and he was treated due to his social class. The author of the article says that his brother called a cardiologist to attend to him even before he arrived to the hospital(Janny,4). The hospital was private and hence the services were high quality. The people around him influenced his recovery very much .The support and encouragement he got from family members and friends who visited him was influential to his recovery that took only four days. Mieles was very positive and confident towards his condition, looked forward to easier recovery.Miele viewed his heart condition as just minor and although he went to a high cost hospital, he was sure of recovery. Although the parents of Miele had died of cardiac attack and his brother had undergone clean up exercise of the arteries, he did not consider himself a candidate of heart attack. This shows the kind of strong personality that he had and this characteristic in him enabled him recover more quickly. Ms.Gora was a 59 years old working class woman who works was a house worker in the united stated but non-native of Poland origin. Her level of education was very low and she did not understand the effect that lack of a quick medical response would have to her health. Due to lack of education, she tried to block her husband from calling for medical care since she thought she would recover. Her level of education did not allow her make the correct judgment of weighing money vs. life. Resisting her husband from calling an ambulance worsened her situation. On another instance, she refused to be taken to good hospital arguing that it would be expensive (Janny,3). Such judgment was influenced by the low level of education she had. She declined being taken to hospital and decided to take salty water and hypertension pills thinking that they could lead to her recovery. Her low level of education is again shown since she does not understand the effect of heart attack and the kind of medical treatment that one should go for. Being of polish origin, she could not communicate well in English and this denied her faster medical attention since it took time to understand one another with the doctor. Gora lived in a noisy area near Brooklyn-Queen Expressway and on the occasion of the heart attack the kind of environment made her sweat very much and also have an urge to vomit. The kind of environment she lived in pre-tells that also the kinds of people living around her were not educated. Her husband did not take the initiative to call the ambulance after she rejected the idea. The neighbors around her did not come to her rescue nor did they offer any solution to her .upon arrival at the hospital, the doctors were very reluctant to attend to her and even after eight hours, she had not received any treatment. She was transferred to another hospital where she received treatment even though very late. This shows that the people around her; doctors, nurses, and even the husband participated in slowing down her rate of recovery. The personality of Gora also contributed to her slow recovery. Gora was a heavy smoker and each time she was asked to stop smoking she tried it a few days and went back to it shows that she was a quitter. She did not take her medication properly and also failed to complete the dosage. At one point, a doctor took her to a rehab and her diet was changed to control the condition but upon leaving the rehab, she went back to her older habits that made the heart attack occur again (Janny ,5). The ACA program in the USA would have saved the situation for Ms Gora since she would have been able to pay the cost of treatment in a better hospital. ACA would have controlled the behavior of the nurses and doctors who neglected Ms Gora at the first hospital. In conclusion, the ACA is of much benefit to the citizens of USA if well implemented could reduce the number of avoidable deaths in the country. The poor people will also have a chance to get good medical service despite their economic status. Works Cited Janny Scott. "Social class governs results in health care." Gainesville.com. New York Times, 16 May 2005. Web. 19 Mar. 2014 Read More