Journal of Sacred Work

"I had the best doctors in the world. None of them ever asked me how I was doing. All they did was ask about my leg. Well, my damn leg was gone!" – Teddy Kennedy, Jr., speaking to health care leaders about his hospitalization, at age twelve, for cancer treatment and a leg amputation.

   I heard him speak about fifteen years ago. A group of us, all hospital CEOs at the time, sat in an auditorium in the Kennedy Library in Boston. 

   When the son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy (with his father in photo at left) hobbled into the room, everyone rose to applaud. Teddy, Jr. had only one message for us. You all run hospitals, he told us, please figure out a way to be sure patients are treated like whole human beings, not pieces or parts of human beings. I am not the guy with the missing leg. I am a whole person who happens to have lost a part of his body to cancer."

   What is wrong with us, as caregivers, that we so regularly insist on labeling people by their disease? Why do nurses, radiology techs, physical therapists, and doctors persistently talk about sick human beings as "gall bladders" or "knees" or "legs."

   What was startling to Teddy Kennedy, jr. was how he had been dehumanized by the healthcare system. He was no longer a young boy. He was an amputee.

   There is a great risk, especially with chronically sick children, that they will allow themselves to be defined by their disease. There is an even greater risk that we will define them that way.

   Why is the language of caregiving such a big deal? If caregivers think of a patient as a whole human being, they are more likely to be attentive and respectful. What if they think of a patient as "the knee?" If a person is only their knee, caregivers can ignore call lights, leave patients lying on gurneys in hallways, and talk over their reclining figures as if they weren't there. After all, they are not people, they are "knees."

   The language we use to refer to patients is crucial to the success of Radical Loving Care. I, and others, have been preaching this message for years. Sometimes, I feel like giving up. No matter how many caregivers say they understand, these same folks will refer to a person as "the diabetic" or "the alcoholic." 

   Anytime we refer to another human being only by a label, we have not only marginalized them, we have degraded ourselves. If a caregiver looks after human beings in need, their work is noble and sacred. If an orthopedic nurse thinks of herself as as "knee fixer" what has she or he become?

   Teddy Kennedy, Jr. has risen above the label some caregivers tried to attach to him. He has used his famous name to campaign for humane treatment of human beings who are sick and/or permanently disabled. Can we live the Love he teaches?

-Rev. Erie Chapman