Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s <i>The President’s Physician</i>

Stephen Kekeghe

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician

Stephen Kekeghe

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 4)

Received: 10 May 2021 Accepted: 7 July 2021 Published: 24 July 2021

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Abstract

Literature, over the years, has become a potent instrument in humanizing medical practice, which manifests in different forms. Scholars in the domains of literature and medicine have identified the significance of literary knowledge in clinical or medical experiences. From consultation, diagnoses and treatments, humanistic tools constitute the hallmarks of medical practice, which are evident in the therapeutic relationship that involves the patient and care-giver. Literary writers, the world over, have consciously or unconsciously created human health awareness by representing medical episodes and therapeutics as central themes; in such texts, biomedical experiences like illnesses, diseases and ethical issues of medicine are foregrounded. A significant layer of literature and medicine is the exploration of ethical standards in the medical profession, where characterization and dialogues are used to emphasize physician-patient relationship in the therapeutic process. In Nigeria, where medical practice is predominantly doctor-centered, one encounters how physicians and healthcare professionals consistently contravene the Hippocratic Oath, the official and/or sacred document that contains the ethics of medicine. This article examines the appropriation of the patient-centered therapeutic relationship in Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale’s play, The President’s Physician, highlighting the import of medical ethics in the rehabilitative process. The play is given a close-reading and subjected to qualitative, literary analysis, identifying patient-centered ethical principles like non-maleficence, patient autonomy, beneficence and justice that should form the bedrock of medical practice. Omobowale, in his play, explores the need for medical doctors and other healthcare givers to provide care that is respectful of, and responsive to the preferences of their patients. The analysis is anchored on Stephen Kekeghe’s Pathotextualism which underscores the interplay of illness or disease (pathos) and text (literature).

Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 4) This article belongs to the Special Issue Illnesses, Diseases and Medicalisation in African Literature
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16
Page(s)	177-182
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Medical Ethics, Literature and Medicine, Nigerian Drama and Rehabilitation

References

[1]	Omobowale, E. B. The President’s Physician. Ibadan: All Saints Publishers, 2004.
[2]	Jones, A. H. Literature and Medicine: Traditions and Innovations. The Body and the Text: Comparative Essays in Literature and Medicine. Lubbock: Texas Teck University Press, 1990.
[3]	Oyebode, F. The Humanities in Postgraduate Medical Education. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2009; (15): 224-229.
[4]	Oyebode, F. Autobiographical Narrative and Psychiatry. In Mindreadings: literature and psychiatry. Ed. Oyebode, F. London: RCPsych Publications, 2009: 25-41.
[5]	Evans, M. Reflections on the Humanities in Medical Education. Medical Education, 2003; (36): 506-507.
[6]	Omobowale, E. B. Literature and Medicine: A Study of Selected Creative Works of Nigerian Physicians. PhD Thesis, University of Ibadan, (Unpublished 2001).
[7]	McLellan, M. F. Literature and Medicine: Physician-Writers. The Lancet, 1997; (349): 564-567.
[8]	Owonibi, S. Patient-Writers’ Portrayal of Disease and Psychological Trauma. Ph.D Thesis submitted to the Department of English, University of Ibadan (Unpublished, 2010).
[9]	Kekeghe, S. E. Psychiatric Conditions in Selected Nigerian Literary Texts. Ph.D Thesis in the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, (Unpublished, 2018).
[10]	Kekeghe, S. E. Mental Health, Minority Discourse and Tanure Ojaide’s Short Stories. The Routledge Hand Book of Minority Discourse in African Literature. (Eds). T. Ojaide & J. Ashuntantang. Taylor and Francis, 2020: 325-338.
[11]	Kekeghe, S. Creativity and the Burden of Thoughts: Deconstructing Melancholia in Wumi Raji’s Rolling Dreams. In Matatu, 2017; (49) 2: 293-306.
[12]	Omobowale, E. B. The Therapeutic Relationship: A Critical Appraisal; Bio Quarterly, 2003; (14): 12-16.
[13]	Omobowale, E. B. Literature and the teaching of Biomedical Ethics in Nigeria: A Creative Writer’s Perspective; Romanian Journal of Bioethics, 2006; (4) 2: 20-30.
[14]	Lee, P. K. W. Defining Physiatry and Future Scope of Rehabilitation Medicine. Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2011; 35 (4): 445-449.
[15]	Schiedermayer, D. L. The Hippocratic Oath— Corporate Version. New England Journal of Medicine, 1986. 314.
[16]	Hippocratic Corpus, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114108/Retrieved 19/07/2020.
[17]	Beauchamp, J. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 2013; 7.
[18]	Berdine, G. ‘The Hippocratic Oath and the Principles of Medical Ethics’. The Southwest Respiratory and Clinical Care Chronicles, 2015; 3 (9): 28-32.
[19]	Weise, M. ‘Medical Ethics Made Easy’. Professional Case Management, 2016; 21 (2): 88-94.
[20]	Kekeghe, Stephen E. (2020). “Medical Episodes, Pathotextualism and Urhobo Folktales”. International African Conference on Current Studies. Ed. Srivastava, Viranjay M. Turkey: Farabi Publishing House [www.africansummit.org]. 434-441.
[21]	Beauchamp, T. L. & Childress, J. F. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

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APA Style

Stephen Kekeghe. (2021). Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(4), 177-182. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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Stephen Kekeghe. Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(4), 177-182. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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AMA Style

Stephen Kekeghe. Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(4):177-182. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16,
  author = {Stephen Kekeghe},
  title = {Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {4},
  pages = {177-182},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210904.16},
  abstract = {Literature, over the years, has become a potent instrument in humanizing medical practice, which manifests in different forms. Scholars in the domains of literature and medicine have identified the significance of literary knowledge in clinical or medical experiences. From consultation, diagnoses and treatments, humanistic tools constitute the hallmarks of medical practice, which are evident in the therapeutic relationship that involves the patient and care-giver. Literary writers, the world over, have consciously or unconsciously created human health awareness by representing medical episodes and therapeutics as central themes; in such texts, biomedical experiences like illnesses, diseases and ethical issues of medicine are foregrounded. A significant layer of literature and medicine is the exploration of ethical standards in the medical profession, where characterization and dialogues are used to emphasize physician-patient relationship in the therapeutic process. In Nigeria, where medical practice is predominantly doctor-centered, one encounters how physicians and healthcare professionals consistently contravene the Hippocratic Oath, the official and/or sacred document that contains the ethics of medicine. This article examines the appropriation of the patient-centered therapeutic relationship in Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale’s play, The President’s Physician, highlighting the import of medical ethics in the rehabilitative process. The play is given a close-reading and subjected to qualitative, literary analysis, identifying patient-centered ethical principles like non-maleficence, patient autonomy, beneficence and justice that should form the bedrock of medical practice. Omobowale, in his play, explores the need for medical doctors and other healthcare givers to provide care that is respectful of, and responsive to the preferences of their patients. The analysis is anchored on Stephen Kekeghe’s Pathotextualism which underscores the interplay of illness or disease (pathos) and text (literature).},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician
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Y1  - 2021/07/24
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JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16
AB  - Literature, over the years, has become a potent instrument in humanizing medical practice, which manifests in different forms. Scholars in the domains of literature and medicine have identified the significance of literary knowledge in clinical or medical experiences. From consultation, diagnoses and treatments, humanistic tools constitute the hallmarks of medical practice, which are evident in the therapeutic relationship that involves the patient and care-giver. Literary writers, the world over, have consciously or unconsciously created human health awareness by representing medical episodes and therapeutics as central themes; in such texts, biomedical experiences like illnesses, diseases and ethical issues of medicine are foregrounded. A significant layer of literature and medicine is the exploration of ethical standards in the medical profession, where characterization and dialogues are used to emphasize physician-patient relationship in the therapeutic process. In Nigeria, where medical practice is predominantly doctor-centered, one encounters how physicians and healthcare professionals consistently contravene the Hippocratic Oath, the official and/or sacred document that contains the ethics of medicine. This article examines the appropriation of the patient-centered therapeutic relationship in Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale’s play, The President’s Physician, highlighting the import of medical ethics in the rehabilitative process. The play is given a close-reading and subjected to qualitative, literary analysis, identifying patient-centered ethical principles like non-maleficence, patient autonomy, beneficence and justice that should form the bedrock of medical practice. Omobowale, in his play, explores the need for medical doctors and other healthcare givers to provide care that is respectful of, and responsive to the preferences of their patients. The analysis is anchored on Stephen Kekeghe’s Pathotextualism which underscores the interplay of illness or disease (pathos) and text (literature).
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Author Information

Stephen Kekeghe

Department of English, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Stephen Kekeghe. (2021). Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(4), 177-182. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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ACS Style

Stephen Kekeghe. Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(4), 177-182. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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AMA Style

Stephen Kekeghe. Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(4):177-182. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16,
  author = {Stephen Kekeghe},
  title = {Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician},
  journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
  volume = {9},
  number = {4},
  pages = {177-182},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210904.16},
  abstract = {Literature, over the years, has become a potent instrument in humanizing medical practice, which manifests in different forms. Scholars in the domains of literature and medicine have identified the significance of literary knowledge in clinical or medical experiences. From consultation, diagnoses and treatments, humanistic tools constitute the hallmarks of medical practice, which are evident in the therapeutic relationship that involves the patient and care-giver. Literary writers, the world over, have consciously or unconsciously created human health awareness by representing medical episodes and therapeutics as central themes; in such texts, biomedical experiences like illnesses, diseases and ethical issues of medicine are foregrounded. A significant layer of literature and medicine is the exploration of ethical standards in the medical profession, where characterization and dialogues are used to emphasize physician-patient relationship in the therapeutic process. In Nigeria, where medical practice is predominantly doctor-centered, one encounters how physicians and healthcare professionals consistently contravene the Hippocratic Oath, the official and/or sacred document that contains the ethics of medicine. This article examines the appropriation of the patient-centered therapeutic relationship in Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale’s play, The President’s Physician, highlighting the import of medical ethics in the rehabilitative process. The play is given a close-reading and subjected to qualitative, literary analysis, identifying patient-centered ethical principles like non-maleficence, patient autonomy, beneficence and justice that should form the bedrock of medical practice. Omobowale, in his play, explores the need for medical doctors and other healthcare givers to provide care that is respectful of, and responsive to the preferences of their patients. The analysis is anchored on Stephen Kekeghe’s Pathotextualism which underscores the interplay of illness or disease (pathos) and text (literature).},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Dramatic Art, Medical Ethics and Rehabilitation: Patient-Centred Therapeutic Relationship in Omobowale’s The President’s Physician
AU  - Stephen Kekeghe
Y1  - 2021/07/24
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16
T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
SP  - 177
EP  - 182
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-057X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210904.16
AB  - Literature, over the years, has become a potent instrument in humanizing medical practice, which manifests in different forms. Scholars in the domains of literature and medicine have identified the significance of literary knowledge in clinical or medical experiences. From consultation, diagnoses and treatments, humanistic tools constitute the hallmarks of medical practice, which are evident in the therapeutic relationship that involves the patient and care-giver. Literary writers, the world over, have consciously or unconsciously created human health awareness by representing medical episodes and therapeutics as central themes; in such texts, biomedical experiences like illnesses, diseases and ethical issues of medicine are foregrounded. A significant layer of literature and medicine is the exploration of ethical standards in the medical profession, where characterization and dialogues are used to emphasize physician-patient relationship in the therapeutic process. In Nigeria, where medical practice is predominantly doctor-centered, one encounters how physicians and healthcare professionals consistently contravene the Hippocratic Oath, the official and/or sacred document that contains the ethics of medicine. This article examines the appropriation of the patient-centered therapeutic relationship in Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale’s play, The President’s Physician, highlighting the import of medical ethics in the rehabilitative process. The play is given a close-reading and subjected to qualitative, literary analysis, identifying patient-centered ethical principles like non-maleficence, patient autonomy, beneficence and justice that should form the bedrock of medical practice. Omobowale, in his play, explores the need for medical doctors and other healthcare givers to provide care that is respectful of, and responsive to the preferences of their patients. The analysis is anchored on Stephen Kekeghe’s Pathotextualism which underscores the interplay of illness or disease (pathos) and text (literature).
VL  - 9
IS  - 4
ER  -

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