Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures Final Essay

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Lam’s “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures” has twelve petite stories revealing Fitzgerald, Chen, Sri, and Ming as physicians. In every short story, patients encounter these physicians for assistance. The doctors give their patients manifold choices and allow them to choose what they find best. However, in every story, the patients give these doctors the opportunity to make the best decision on their behalf. These clearly shows how patients put their destiny and faith in the hands of physicians. Therefore, the society considers physicians as miraculous cures thus trusting their views and anticipating for the superlative. Using Ming, Sri, Fitzgerald, and Chen as the main characters in the “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures,” Lam scrutinizes the truths and myths of the health care. The book reveals that these four doctors are practicing medicine, but they are not perfecting it. They conjecture at the effects of their activities, interpret symptoms, arrive at foolproof conclusions, care for their patients, and uphold their authority. However, they make errors, discuss and sometimes dislike their work. The book bids a multifaceted rendition of infirmary life and contests the myth that medicine is objective and physicians are omnipotent. Ming, Fitzgerald, Chen, and Sri are professional doctors, and their background is well revealed. The approach each of them uses to handle patients is what determines the professionalism in them.

Though all have their weaknesses and strengths, if I were seriously injured or ill, I would prefer Doctor Ming to treat me as she is intelligent, has the passion for medicine, makes decisions with confidence, and her strengths supersede her weaknesses.
Lam’s novel makes allusion to the contemporary day medical meadow. The doctor I would choose to treat me is Ming. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Ming as of Chinese-decent who values the tradition and family beliefs greatly. Ming is an intelligent, diligent, and over-achieving at U of T as a medical student. She is autonomous and strong with a steady self-drive to become a physician. Ming’s brilliance is evident when she dedicates much time to teach Fitzgerald on how to study effectively (Lam 51). After her education, she is employed and works in the infirmary delivering babies. When Janice arrives in the hospital to give birth, she appears to have a successful natural birth. However, Ming realizes that Janice requires an emergency caesarean section to save the child. Anesthesia is very important when performing emergency caesarean. However, Janice bravely agrees to have caesarean section performed without anesthetic. She says, “The waves are going to crash over me, drown me. Why can’t I move?” (Lam 232). Ming decides to risk the life of Janice as she performs an emergency caesarean section to her without anesthesia. This is incredibly dangerous decision since the lady could have perished. But given the situation, Ming takes the risk because she believes that it is the best solution to the problem at hand. This shows how Ming trusts her abilities and skills in medicine. She can make quick decisions to save a life, and her risky decision eventually, saves the life of both Janice and her baby. Therefore, when I am ill, I believe that Ming can make quick decisions that can save my life and hence my choice.
Fitzgerald is a doctor helped by Ming to peruse the medical career. Fitzgerald chooses to study what is interesting to him and ignores what is needed. This is evident when he says “Ming taught me that the first eighty marks are easy to get, but you lose it on the last twenty, so you live your life for the last twenty. Bleeding must be the same. The few cases that don’t stop are the tough part, right?” (Lam 72). He is hooked on alcohol, and at the beginning of the novel, he is a reliant person with high ethics. When he completes medical school, he tries diverse sorts of medical work. A patient by name Eli is brought to him by the police. Because of police brutality, Eli has a head wound and Fitzgerald is expected to help him. The police claim Eli fell, but Eli confirms that the police brutalized him, but Fitzgerald unwillingly treats Eli. Also, Fitzgerald doesn’t find any problem with brutalizing Eli, and he even staples Eli’s wound shut, confessing that, “we use the pain of this spot [the forehead] to wake the comatose” (Lam 178). Fitzgerald is a doctor who is supposed to heal but instead he is hurting and therefore deceitful. When Eli bites him, he thinks of a disease in his saliva. This is evident when Fitzgerald says, “saliva, clear and innocent, but sometimes it carries infections and curses like the words it lubricates” (Lam 181). This shows how Fitzgerald is incompetent and unable to handle patients professionally. He is always drunk and therefore his weaknesses supersede his strengths in the medical field.
Apart from Fitzgerald, Lam portrays Chen as another doctor who seems to be kind. He meets Ming for the first time in the lab and develops a relationship that eventually leads to marriage. In his profession, Chen helps Fitzgerald heal. This shows how human Chen is. To save Fitzgerald life, he performs an emergency medical cure on him. However, he gets infected by the disease, and this shows how careless Chen is when handling the medical issues. He is also a person of pride as he feels that he is too superior to work the night shift. Sri also is another doctor in the Lam’s novel who is a partner with Ming and Chen. He appears professional and composed while interacting with his patients (Lam 167). However, Sri doubts his capabilities and ability to evaluate patient’s problems. This is evident when he is evaluating Winston. He represents a situation where doctors have uncertainties and questionable capabilities. Sri is a doctor who makes people loose trust in health care professionals. Therefore, both Sri and Chen have weaknesses that supersede their strengths in medical field.
In conclusion, Lam’s “Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures” shows that doctors may get the education from the same school but their abilities to execute duties differ. The importance of the analysis of these doctors is to show that having trust in doctors is risky for patients since some doctors do not have morals. However, doctors should always be willing to help and assist in healing but not hurting. Though Fitzgerald, Chen, and Sri have some strengths, their weaknesses in medical field prompt me to choose Ming as my doctor. She is intelligent, has the passion for medicine, She has a human heart, and makes quick decisions with confidence to save a life. Ming’s strength supersedes her weaknesses and therefore she is the best doctor to treat me hence my choice.
Works Cited
Lam, Vincent. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Weinstein Books, 2007.