The Worn Path Analysis

Children rely on their family to make the best decisions for their health. In The Use of Force and The Worn Path, we see two very distinct decisions being made about a child’s health. In The Use of Force a doctor suspects that a child might have Diphtheria, and actually has to use force to provide the best medical care in deciding if the child has that deadly disease because the child refused to open her mouth. In The Worn Path there is a woman who has to travel a long distance facing discrimination just to get a medicine for her grandchild. In both of these stories we see people making decisions believed to be the best for the child in question. Children are not capable of decision –making capacity, or the ability to decide what is best for
their health, so it is necessary for adults to step up for them. This is according to Paediatrics & Child Health “Capacity is not age-or disease-related, nor does it depend on the decision itself, but is a cognitive and emotional process of decision-making relative to the medical decision. The majority of children will not have decision-making capacity and will require a proxy to make decisions for them” (Treatment, 100). I believe that in both The Worn Path and The Use of Force the medical decision made where in the best interest of the children, and they acted as good proxy’s. In The Use of Force a child is brought in by her parents to the doctor.
She was sick, and the doctor assumed that the child had Diptheria due to recent cases at her school. He proceeded to ask to look inside the child’s throat to see if there was “a thick, gray coating…in the throat” (CDC). This is indicative of Diptheria. The child didn’t make a move. Not being able to get a throat culture scared him because “he had to have a throat culture for her own protection”(Williams). The reasoning why this was so important was because according to the Center of Disease Control Fifty percent of un-treated cases die (CDC). Once he explained the importance of this to her parents they gave consent and tried to help him force the girl’s mouth open. He was able to find out that the child did have Diptheria. Afterwards, the doctor felt bad saying maybe he “should have desisted and come back in an hour or more”(Williams). I however, don’t think that would have changed anything. The girl was obviously stubborn and scared so he provided the best medical care possible. That doctor and parents did what they had to do in the best interest possible of the child. Even in emergency cases like when giving CPR on the field it is instructed “that permission to give care must be obtained from a parent or guardian when one is available. If the condition is life threatening, permission—or consent—is implied if a parent or guardian is not present” (Red Cross). Even if a child doesn’t want your help in a
life threatening environment it is not up to the child if they will receive care. I feel as if the doctor’s ethics, mission, or even his character was not in question when he forced that child’s mouth open. He was doing it at full consent of the girl’s parents and in doing so he saved her life. In the end it wasn’t up to her what kind of medical care she was going to receive. In The Worn Path a African American Woman is traveling a long distance. She was doing this for her Grand child to attain his medicine. Not only did she endure a long travel in December of 1940 she had to live through condescending racism through most of the people she met. The racism was shown throw when people would say things like “Now you go on home, Granny” (Welty). She was called this in a rude way where it was telling her that she is lower than the person who called her that. She had to make the decision to keep on pushing through this obnoxiousness to retrieve a medicine for her grandchild. It was a moving story about how she stepped up for her grandchild whom she loved. Here ethics, mission, and her character shine as she endures these times. There could be no question in that she is a kind hearted human being. The Worn Path and The Use of Force show that people should be advocates for their children. Children shouldn’t ever have to worry about these kinds of decisions, that is why parents or guardians are in place. The truth of it is they cannot cognitively, and emotionally understand what they are saying when they don’t want a particular treatment. I do not condone violence like in The Use of Force, but as someone who is going into the medical field I know that some things are necessary for children, and although they might not realize it now, they should be thankful for everything their family does for them.