Charles L. Briggs is Alan Dundes Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, and the author or coauthor of ten books.
Clara Mantini-Briggs, a Venezuelan public health physician, was the National Coordinator of the Dengue Fever Program in Venezuela's Ministry of Health and is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. They are coauthors of
Charles L. Briggs is Alan Dundes Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, and the author or coauthor of ten books.
Clara Mantini-Briggs, a Venezuelan public health physician, was the National Coordinator of the Dengue Fever Program in Venezuela's Ministry of Health and is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. They are coauthors of
When Caregivers Fail: Doctors, Nurses, and Healers Facing an Intractable Disease
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Published:May 2016
2016. "When Caregivers Fail: Doctors, Nurses, and Healers Facing an Intractable Disease", Tell Me Why My Children Died: Rabies, Indigenous Knowledge, and Communicative Justice, Charles L. Briggs, Clara Mantini-Briggs
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This chapter juxtaposes the common experience of physicians, bilingual nurses, and vernacular healers in their failed efforts to diagnose and treat patients with the strange disease. A newly graduated physician working in a rural clinic related his frustration after not receiving support from public health officials or any feedback from specialists who treated his dying patients. Interns in their final semester of medical school challenged regional public health authorities for a perceived failure to address the situation. Nurses recounted their efforts to mediate between Spanish-speaking doctors, indigenous patients, and healers and the emotional distress of losing patients, some of whom were relatives. Two healers detailed how their postmortem efforts to solve the puzzle prompted them to piece together strange symptoms, spiritual pathogens, corrupt government contractors, and witchcraft accusations in making sense of why their efforts failed.
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