Examining a Doctor
Doctors are people whose profession is to save lifes, but what if a doctor is willingly to put a life in harm’s way. In the short story “Eli” by Vincent Lam, the character most ethically responsible for the events of this story is Doctor Fitzgerald because he disregards medical practices, disrespects the authority of the police and allows his anger to cloud his judgement. When an injured prisoner named Eli is roughly brought into the hospital by two police officers who demand an injury to be healed, Doctor Fitzgerald is called in. As the night goes on, tension builds and aggressive advances become evident between the three groups.
At the beginning the doctor feels sorry for Eli and he hatches a plan to prevent Eli from leaving the hospital. Eli’s insolence forces Doctor Fitzgerald to let his education fall by the wayside by breaking the Hippocratic Oath. Despite previous training, Doctor Fitzgerald uses staples on Eli’s forehead which are usually used to “staple scalps and sometimes legs (Lam 177),” to fix the wound. Stitches are a more suitable method to fix this injury. Consequently, this makes the experience more painful for Eli and causes the final results to look like train tracks. Eli becomes very agitated because he is infatuated with his personal attributes. Furthermore, the doctor ignores the Doctoral Code when against his better judgement he sends Eli away with the police without the physiatrist’s approval. All the instruction that Doctor Fitzgerald has received from seven years of university go out the window in this evening.
Previous history with the police makes the doctor very bitter towards the police officers. Before the officers say anything to him, Doctor Fitzgerald is obnoxious to them. After thoroughly examining Eli and noticing wounds that don’t fit with the police’s story, Doctor Fitzgerald announces that Eli “must be imagining the police punching [Eli] and so forth (Lam 173),” sarcastically to the police. On account of this statement, this lecturing causes the police to become ill tempered because the doctor is questioning their integrity and right of power. Frustrated from the nights events and the lack of police officers on the road, adds to this tension. These underlying reasons and the doctors questioning irritates the police and doesn’t allow them to concentrate on the goal at hand.
Situations worsen as the night goes on and the doctor loses his composure when dealing with this patient. Rage induced the doctor places “scissors on the stretcher within reach of Eli’s cuffed right hand (Lam 181),” in the hope that Eli will use the scissors on the police. Leaving the scissors is the doctor’s justification for the police’s incompetence and Eli biting him. However, these sides can’t be held responsible because the police aren’t trained to stabilize people for medical work (even if it was on purpose, to allow Eli to break free and allow him to bite the doctor) and Eli is influenced by drugs, so he can’t control his actions. Patients will be calmer if the doctor is relaxed, but Doctor Fitzgerald isn’t tranquil and it inflames the situation. After Eli leaves the hospital with scissors in his possession, Doctor Fitzgerald can already smell the intoxicating revenge that will ensue.
All characters were offenders of being ethically responsible, but the doctor has the ability and opportunity to resolve all the conflicts, but he doesn’t. Even the greatest humanitarians can become monsters when blood is spilt because “[w]ithin blood the idea of death can flow (Lam 179),” through the wound.
Mark 5/6
Strong grasp of topic and text.
Demonstrates a strong command of the conventions of language.
At the beginning the doctor feels sorry for Eli and he hatches a plan to prevent Eli from leaving the hospital. Eli’s insolence forces Doctor Fitzgerald to let his education fall by the wayside by breaking the Hippocratic Oath. Despite previous training, Doctor Fitzgerald uses staples on Eli’s forehead which are usually used to “staple scalps and sometimes legs (Lam 177),” to fix the wound. Stitches are a more suitable method to fix this injury. Consequently, this makes the experience more painful for Eli and causes the final results to look like train tracks. Eli becomes very agitated because he is infatuated with his personal attributes. Furthermore, the doctor ignores the Doctoral Code when against his better judgement he sends Eli away with the police without the physiatrist’s approval. All the instruction that Doctor Fitzgerald has received from seven years of university go out the window in this evening.
Previous history with the police makes the doctor very bitter towards the police officers. Before the officers say anything to him, Doctor Fitzgerald is obnoxious to them. After thoroughly examining Eli and noticing wounds that don’t fit with the police’s story, Doctor Fitzgerald announces that Eli “must be imagining the police punching [Eli] and so forth (Lam 173),” sarcastically to the police. On account of this statement, this lecturing causes the police to become ill tempered because the doctor is questioning their integrity and right of power. Frustrated from the nights events and the lack of police officers on the road, adds to this tension. These underlying reasons and the doctors questioning irritates the police and doesn’t allow them to concentrate on the goal at hand.
Situations worsen as the night goes on and the doctor loses his composure when dealing with this patient. Rage induced the doctor places “scissors on the stretcher within reach of Eli’s cuffed right hand (Lam 181),” in the hope that Eli will use the scissors on the police. Leaving the scissors is the doctor’s justification for the police’s incompetence and Eli biting him. However, these sides can’t be held responsible because the police aren’t trained to stabilize people for medical work (even if it was on purpose, to allow Eli to break free and allow him to bite the doctor) and Eli is influenced by drugs, so he can’t control his actions. Patients will be calmer if the doctor is relaxed, but Doctor Fitzgerald isn’t tranquil and it inflames the situation. After Eli leaves the hospital with scissors in his possession, Doctor Fitzgerald can already smell the intoxicating revenge that will ensue.
All characters were offenders of being ethically responsible, but the doctor has the ability and opportunity to resolve all the conflicts, but he doesn’t. Even the greatest humanitarians can become monsters when blood is spilt because “[w]ithin blood the idea of death can flow (Lam 179),” through the wound.
Mark 5/6
Strong grasp of topic and text.
Demonstrates a strong command of the conventions of language.
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