The Works Of David Cronenberg Film Studies Essay

The Works Of David Cronenberg Film Studies Essay The dissertation reviews works of David Cronenberg circa 1976-1999 in relation to Truffauts theories of the auteur to show the relevance of auteur theory in todays cinematic climate. The dissertation will look at Cronenbergs recurring themes, subjects such as biology, the use of insects as a supernatural force, body horror, and themes of psychological delusion and repression. These themes are consistent in Cronenberg film practice, and will form the basis of identifiable traits for consideration in defining contemporary autership. It will look into both of sides of the argument comparing the evidence from sources that believe directorial auterism is a viable concept and those who feel film making is a collaborative process and therefore a director can never truly take ownership of a piece of work. In this chapter the dissertation will also look at Cronenbergs Rabid which is the directors second feature film. The genre is a Horror film and relies heavily on one of the staple themes of the vampire sub-genre Infection which in this case a strain of rabies being passed on from person to person through the exchange of bodily fluids. The plot is simple girl falls off motorbike, girl has pioneering yet risky surgery, surgery turns girl into bloodthirsty vampiress The recurrent themes are ones of body modification (surgery), faceless medical organisations, sexuality and penetration, especially in the manifestation of a phallic, knife-like probe that emerges from lead actress Marilyn Chambers armpit to stab and infect her victims. The dissertation will discuss the different aspects that make up the film including the actors and their performances, staging (Director of Photography) the narrative and the script and look to relate them back to Truffauts guidelines to highlight key element s. Dissertation chapter 3: The Fly (Dir. David Cronenberg (1986) A scientist invents a teleportation device and accidentally teleports both himself and a fly at the same time. This unfortunate event leads to the scientist becoming part man part fly. The film is a story of blind ambition, a love story and also a story of metamorphosis. The consistency in Cronenbergs choice of film crew (Director of Photography, composer etc) will be looked at in detail and compared to his previous films along with the other recurring themes mentioned in the introduction. Dissertation chapter 4: CONCLUSION In this chapter the dissertation will compare the recurring themes between the films in relation to Truffauts theory of autership. This correlation between the content of both films and Truffauts work aim to show that, Cronenberg can in fact be classed as an auteur. Chapter 2 Rabid. Rabid is a 1977 film both written and directed by David Cronenberg. It is often seen as a sequel to his 1975 film Shivers both films deal with the subjects of disease and sexuality. The film tells the story of Rose Cronenberg has stated that he named her Rose as a metaphor for her innocence. Rose is played by American pornographic movie star Marilyn Chambers and tells of her newly acquired taste for blood that appears after pioneering life saving surgery after suffering a horrific motorbike crash. The skin graft surgery that Rose undergoes causes a mosquito like probe to appear in her armpit which she then uses to drink the blood of her victims. The probe itself is very phallic and is sheathed in something that resembles a vagina adding to the metaphor of this being a way of spreading sexual disease. The disease in this case is explained as a rare strain of rabies. The opening scenes of the film are set in the Keloid clinic. The director seems to have intentionally used this as a name for both the clinic and the head surgeon Doctor Dan Keloid as Keloid is a biological term for a type of scar. There is a discussion about investors being interested in putting money into the clinic between the members of staff to help create a franchised series of plastic surgery resorts which although shot in 1977 seems to reflect the modern day attitude to plastic surgery. It mirrors the blasà © approach of people to undergo potentially life threatening surgery in the name of personal appearance. The character of Lloyd Walsh (Roger Periard) is introduced into the story by stating that, Ive already had my ears done twice, im just here to get my eyes done there is evidently nothing wrong with the bags under Lloyds eyes. The discussion of franchisation is transposed with the images of a couple on a motorbike, Rose and her boyfriend, Hart Read (Frank Moore). The se quence on the motorcycle is very similar in style to sequences in the 1969 film Easy Rider. Close ups on the drivers foot changing gear are interspersed with shots of the bike weaving along country lanes. This editing technique is a horror film staple with quick cutting from actions that seem quite banal cutting back to another action that is building inevitably into catastrophe and violence. The tension helped to build by the use of sound, Howard Shore as the composer for Rabid has used strings and driving synthesizer noises and increasing in volume. As the motorcycle winds through the country lanes we see that a third set of protagonists are brought into the scene in the form of a camper van with a family in. As the camper van driver realizes his mistake in taking a wrong turn he turns the van around blocking the road. Close up on Rose as she realizes they are about to crash. (Rabid 1977) Inevitably the couple on the motorbike swerve and Hart gets thrown clear from the wreckage; Rose however ends up underneath the bike which bursts into flames burning her badly. The scene then cuts back to the Keloid clinic where one of the patients in the hospital has witnessed the crash and alerts the medical staff. They promptly make the decision to take the ambulance and help the crash victims. The use of the location in which the clinic is set helps the audience to realize that without this help then Rose would surely die. Cleverly, Cronenberg has set the clinic in the middle of the countryside. It is clearly in the middle of winter as there are no leaves on the trees and the fields are akin to barren waste ground. The clinic itself is a cold, faceless building with darkened windows and is surrounded by forest. This is consistent with Cronenbergs use of faceless organizations such as shadowy media companies and in this case a medical establishment. The hospital appears to be the modern day equivalent of Draculas castle or some other horror film haunted house staple. Monaco states that: To experience a Horror film was cathartic, the elements are well known: there was litany to each popular genre. Part of their pleasure lay in seeing how these basic elements would be treated this time around (Monaco, 1981) Suffice to say that when we watch films from the horror genre we are expectant of seeing these certain location and character stereotypes although in the case of Rabid, Cronenberg has transformed the haunted castle with the mad professor into a more modern setting with the use of the Keloid clinic as a key location. The mad professor has now transformed from being that of Dr Victor Frankenstein or Doctor Moreau to one of experimental plastic surgeon Dr Dan Keloid. The use of the faceless medical organization is consistent throughout Cronenbergs body of work throughout the seventies and eighties. Upon the arrival of Rose into the clinic for life saving treatment, Cronenberg seems to have prophesized the modern surgical technique of stem cell research and given Dr Keloid the ability to neutralize skin tissue from Roses thigh and then use this to grow skin grafts that replace the damaged tissue that is affected by the crash. This yet again is another horror film staple; this experimental almost maverick attitude becomes the surgical equivalent of a character deciding to walk down the dark alley when there is a serial killer on the loose. Throughout this time Rose remains in a coma. The editor Jean LeFleur has used a static title stating one month later to show the passage of time and the fact that Rose has been in a shock induced coma for a long time. Changes in time and space invite audiences to make an immediate comparison between two distinct points in time. Changes in time and space may mark the presence of central conflicts or emphasize important stages in character development (Pramaggiore, M. and Wallis, T., 2008) To show the development of a character that is essentially immobile and unable to communicate without the use of something like dream sequence for instance would be challenging to the director. It seems that what initially appears to look like a potentially lazy plot device in the use of a title to show the passage of time actually becomes a logical tool to show the development of Roses character. It is at this point that Rose awakens from her coma. It is suggested to the audience that by Rose unflinchingly removing the Intravenous drip from her arm that something might not be right. Fellow patient Lloyd Walsh discovers Rose lying in her hospital bed thrashing around her breasts uncovered. Rose claims to have no recollection of the accident but complains of being cold and wants Lloyd to embrace her for warmth. Beard says that; Metanarratively there is a kind of male-sexual-fantasy skit going on, with Lloyd as the male viewers stand-in: man accidentally comes upon beautiful young woman semi-naked in a hospital room; his safety as a voyeur is guaranteed by the womans unconsciousness; when she does awaken, she begs him to hold her because she is cold- another opportunity for covert sexual satisfaction (Beard, 2006) This part of the scene can be construed as Roses awakening of her dormant blood lust and her way of using her sexuality to entice her prey into physical contact so she can feed on them. Another way of looking at it is that this scene is Cronenbergs dark sense of humor coming to the fore. Casting a porn film actress in what audiences would regard as a relatively mainstream film and then placing her in a scenario not too dissimilar to the plot of a seventies porn film could be seen as amusing. The scene plays out with an ironic twist of fate; the male viewers on the side of Lloyd want to see this beautiful woman let Lloyd have sex with her, it is however Lloyd that is the one who gets penetrated with a phallus. Rose strikes with her armpit spike, and the scene once more is sexualized (again metanarratively) and in an unexpected way that reverses the roles of sexual attacker and victim (Beard, 2006) Rose then feeds on Lloyds blood, and Lloyd having no recollection of this starts to wander the hospital looking for help. He has no recollection of what has happened to him and as there appears to be no evidence of Rose having been awake at all it is assumed that Lloyd has had a stroke and fallen. However when the staff enter Roses room everything is in disarray and one of the nurses tells Doctor Keloid she believes Lloyd has tried to molest Rose. The decision is made to send Lloyd to the general infirmary in the city after they have taken some blood samples. This decision is a turning point in the story and shows how Cronenberg has married together several different horror staples; a vampire movie has now shows some of the traits of becoming a zombie film too. The idea of a single infected person being sent back into the general population unaware of the disease they are carrying after a wrong diagnosis from the doctor, furthering the spread of disease is something that has been use d time and time again in film making. Metaphorically speaking the disease could be thought of as a sexually transmitted infection as the situation in which it was passed had definite sexual undertones. After Rose has fed on Lloyd they lay down in what appears to be some kind of post coital bliss. Rose attacks Lloyd and feeds on his blood, she strokes his hair and they lay back down on the bed. (Rabid, 1977) After Lloyd is sent to the general infirmary in the city, Dr Keloid looks at Lloyds blood sample through a microscope and realizes that something Is not quite right. The blood sample is shown through the point of view of the doctor and the blood cells are being attacked by other mutated cells. This representation of the disease is akin to watching a sperm fertilize an egg except in the case of the disease the sperm like disease is not fertilizing a cell but eating it instead. This imagery is akin to the spread of the disease throughout the populace shown later on in the film. Cronenberg stated that, Rabid was about the spread of diseaseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, how a whole city is finally almost brought to his knees by a sexually transmitted disease. My imagery tends to be very body oriented. I think Im interested in transformation as well, but not in an abstract spiritual sense or at least not at first, but in a very physical sense. In the case of Rabid it seems Cronenberg is not concerned with only the physical transformation of the protagonists, but also it seems the transformation of society as a whole. It could be assumed that within Rabid, Cronenberg is addressing the changing attitudes of society and that the end of the free love attitude of the sixties and seventies is changing. Sex is no longer safe he appears to be saying. The final scene of the film shows Rose dead on the pavement. Government soldiers that have been charged with controlling the population and keeping the spread of the disease under control find her and throw her into the back of a garbage truck. Muir (2006) proposes that Cronenberg is merely having a stab at women and implying that it is women who are the carriers of disease and that the final scene with Rose getting thrown away emphasizes his thoughts on promiscuity within women equating them to the likes of garbage. Rose, dead, is thrown away into the garbage truck. (Rabid, 1977) Chapter 3 The Fly. Im saying Im an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but now that dream is over and the insect is awake.- Seth Brundle (The Fly, 1986) The Fly is a 1986 film directed by David Cronenberg and produced by Mel Brooks. The film is a remake of the 1958 film of the same title directed by Kurt Neumann which is in turn based on the short story by George Langelaan. The Fly was Cronenbergs biggest cinematic success to date. The director has completely re-imagined the film of the fifties and transformed it into a love story between two characters. The film focuses on Cronenbergs recurring obsession with the horror of the human body. The scientist Seth Brundle (played by Jeff Goldblum) and magazine journalist Veronica Quaife (played by Geena Davis) are the main characters involved in the story. Goldblum plays one of the archetypal Cronenberg staples, the mad scientist. Unusually for Cronenberg the scientist is a likeable character, slightly awkward but ultimately charming. As is the norm for the director, Brundle works for a faceless scientific organization Bartok Science Industries who are financing Brundles work. The pair mee ts at a press event held by Bartok. Brundle convinces Veronica that his work will change the course of human history. Wisker (2005) states that Cronenbergs fascinations lie in the perversions of science being manipulated by corporate interests and how humans, initially unaware, are sucked in to the danger resulting in devastation. This is especially the case regarding the character of Veronica Quaife although it seems that in this scenario, both parties involved had the best intentions and both were unaware of the horror which was to follow. When Brundle asks Veronica to come and look at the project he is working on both characters has ulterior motives, Brundle wants sex and Quaife wants a story for particle magazine. Brundles project is one of teleportation; he is on the verge of mastering teleportation via the use of two pods. Brundle and Veronica go back to his workshop, when they arrive outside the building he lives in the building is dark made of brick and has no discerning fea tures as are the majority of Cronenbergs choice of location throughout his career. The dark building where inside the viewer knows that scientific horror waits. In Rabid (1977) it was the use of a plastic surgery clinic, an apartment block in Shivers (1976) and in The Fly it is an old red brick mill type building. Muir (2007) claims that Veronicas effect on Brundles work is one of humanization, initially it is seen that Brundle has the single minded focus of an insect already, in one particular scene Veronica looks in Seths wardrobe only to encounter five sets of the same clothes. Brundle states that this is purely so he will not have to expend energy worrying unnecessarily about what he is wearing, thus allowing him to concentrate fully on his work. Veronica teaches Brundle about Flesh and about with that comes feelings that seem to have eluded Brundle throughout his manhood; feelings of love and passion are intermingled with anger jealousy over Veronicas suspected continuation of a relationship with her former lover. This is not the case however and we learn early on that veronica wants nothing more to do with Stathis (John Getz) who also happens to be her boss at the magazine. It is this drunken and jealous rage that leads Seth to decide to use his teleportation pods to transport himself. A s shown to the audience previously transporting living flesh has not gone well to say the least, initially the transportation of a baboon led to the baboon being turned inside out. Metaphorically speaking the baboon incident coincided with the introduction of Veronica into Brundles life, figuratively speaking it was not just the baboon that was turned inside out but also Seths life. Brundle tries teleporting a baboon with devastating results (The Fly, 1986) Without the introduction of Veronica it is assumed that uncalculated risk would not enter into Brundles research however fueled by alcohol and jealousy he decides to transport himself in the pods. Whilst entering the transportation pod Brundle fails to notice a fly has entered in with him. As the door seals the audience realize, so is Brundles fate. It is at this point that Cronenbergs film becomes a story about the frailty of human flesh and as with the major body of his work a metaphoric tale of disease, loss and the relationship between human and machine. As Brundle leaves Pod B he feels more alive than he has before unaware that the computer has fused, on a genetic level, both himself and the fly together in to what Seth refers to as, Brundlefly. Seths behavior gradually becomes more animalistic; he becomes more sexually aggressive, stronger and exhibits more risky behavior. Brundle thinks that he has somehow purified himself, by going through the machine and being pieced back together he somehow thinks that the computer has improved him. It becomes apparent to Veronica that maybe things are not quite right with Seth after the discovery of coarse black hair growing out of Seths back. After Veronica has the hairs medically examined it transpires that they are insect hairs. Seth is in denial and tells Veronica that, Ive become free, Im released and you cant stand it. Hairs sprouting from the back of Seth Brundle (The Fly, 1986) When Veronica points out that Seth is not well he retaliates by going to a bar with the sole purpose of finding another woman to have sex with. in a scene which seems to encapsulate both Brundles new found animalistic masculinity and his wanting to take his anger and hurt out on another being he enters into an arm wrestling match. He bets the men one hundred dollars and the hand of the girl at the bar who is with the men. Brundle starts to arm wrestle, white almost sperm like fluid seeps from his hand as he wrestles the man. With little effort, Seth breaks the bigger mans arm and walks off with the girl. Cronenberg yet again punishes promiscuity like he has done in previous films such as Shivers and Rabid. In the case of Brundlefly a combination of promiscuous behavior and risky scientific procedure leads to Brundlefly becoming diseased in a very noticeable way. The transformation of Brundle into Brundlefly at least at first seems to replicate the physical characteristics of AIDS. De rry states that: In Cronenbergs, movie the scientists early manifestation of bodily change resemble the skin lesions of Kaposis sarcoma, the cancer so common in the early stages of AIDS-related immune dysfunction. As these changes transform him into something monstrous-looking that even his girlfriend recoils from. (Derry, 2009) Lesions on Brundles face, similar to Kaposis sarcoma (The Fly, 1986) Derry is making the point that within the context of a horror film Cronenberg is asking a profound question on whether or not we as a society can show compassion for the degradation of people who are suffering from debilitating disease. By ignoring or failing to embrace these people due to revulsion are we becoming monsters ourselves? Veronica shows us that she is a strong and compassionate character by comforting Brundlefly even though to the viewer he has become a repulsive monster. Cronenberg has said that: The AIDS connection is very superficial. I see it (The Fly) as talking about mortality, about our vulnerability and the tradgedy of human loss (Cronenberg) This may well be the case but in the context of which the film was released it seems no doubt inevitable that viewers would link the film with the AIDS paranoia of the nineteen eighties. Seth Brundle states in the film that, I seem to be afflicted by a disease with a purpose, wouldnt you say. In a social context at the time HIV and AIDs were misunderstood diseases with a lack of education, especially from the government and public misinformation and rumours adding to the fear felt by the public. Cronenberg has yet again tapped into the fear of the unknown. Speculation about the films hidden meanings and metaphors certainly helped gain public interest for the film and to garner huge box office success for the director. In one particular dream sequence there is scene involving a pregnant Veronica giving birth in the hospital. The surgeon, who in this case is none other than the director himself, pulls what the audience are led to believe a baby from Veronicas womb. Amidst the screening the audience, as well as veronica see for the first time that this is no ordinary baby and she has given birth to a baby/maggot hybrid. This reflects the fear of the public during the AIDS crisis, what if my unborn baby is infected? What if somehow my baby is different? Cronenbergs cameo as a surgeonas he pulls the maggot baby from Veronica. (The Fly, 1986) Jà ¼rgen Mà ¼ller, Herbert Klemens (2003) Claim that, along with several other films of the eighties, The Fly is dealing with the theme of a person, in this case Brundle, looking for the Lost Secret the need for a person to become something which they are not. In the case of The Fly Cronenberg has touched on this theme but as is usual for the director the theme is based around the fact that if anyone tries to transgress the boundaries set by nature they will be found guilty of hubris, punishment in the case of Seth Brundle is creeping dissolution. Once he has felt how perfect a specimen he can be as a man, once he has achieved this greatness the only possible way for the character to go is down.

Ideas of Charles Cooley

Charles Cooley was born on 17th August 1864 and died on 8th May1929. He was George Mead’s contemporary, and each greatly influenced the other’s thinking. Like Mead, Cooley believed that social interaction is the basis of the socialization process. Cooley saw the individual and society as parts of a whole, not as separate entities. In Cooley’s theory, each individual is linked to the social world mainly through the looking glass self. His own self-examination and observation of his children aided him in forming his concepts of the looking-glass self and primary groups.This essay focuses on the looking glass self theory of Charles Cooley and his other ideas. Sociologist Charles Cooley is best known for his concept of looking glass self, the theory that self-image is formed largely by the message we get from others, and an individual’s interpretation of those messages. Cooley argued that a person’s self grows out of a person’s transaction with o thers. One’s consciousness of him or herself is a reflection of the ideas about him or herself that he or she attributes to other minds; thus, there can be no isolated selves.In other words Cooley says that we see ourselves as we think others see us. For example, when learning table manners children develop a sense of what others find acceptable and as they a taught they become socialized. Through the looking glass, we learn that we are intelligent or dull, attractive or unattractive. Cooley argues that the judgments of some people in our lives are more important than judgments of others, for example a spouse’s compliment or low opinion may have a greater effect on someone’s self perception than the same comment made by some stranger.The lingering influence of significant of others helps explain how we can sometimes maintain a positive self image at times when many people look down on us, or negative self image when many people think well of us. The looking glas s self is a simple and domestic metaphor for the way society’s image for us becomes incorporated into our own self image. The looking-glass self begins at an early age and continues throughout a person’s entire life as one will never stop modifying their self unless all social interactions cease.We do not see ourselves us through the eyes of others quite as literally as we see ourselves in an actual mirror. Our notion of how others see us may not be quite accurate and we may also be evaluated differently by different people. What others think of you is no doubt very important in making your self-image and as a result, who you are and what you do. According to Cooley, we gain a definition of our self in three steps: firstly through the beliefs about how we appear to others, secondly through the beliefs about their judgments of how we appear to them and thirdly the response to the imagined judgment.Through the imagined judgment we develop pride, shame, improved self-este em, slightly damaged self-esteem, and other attributes of the self. Once Cooley had established his theory of the self, he then focused his analysis on the human groupings that he conceived to be primary and secondary in linking man with his society and in integrating individuals into the social fabric. Cooley defined primary groups as those small groups in which all the members have enduring, intimate face-to-face interaction and cooperation. Cooley coined the term primary for these groups because they include the family, our first social group, and social linkages.Close friends, children’s play groups, and perhaps some neighbors and some work groups also constitute primary groups. As Cooley explains, primary groups are important in forming the social nature and ideals of individuals. In primary groups, members value each other as individuals and achieve from personal fulfillment. They do things that will benefit the group, without expectation of payment or self-serving bene fit. Example, one member of a family might wash laundry or perform housework that benefits all members.On the other hand, secondary groups are larger groups in which all members do not interact directly and have relationships that are not permanent. Members do not share intimate bonds like those in primary groups. People do join these groups for benefits in some way. They may leave the group or join other groups when they feel like it is necessary. However, these groups may still have some shared norms and sense of group identity. Examples of secondary groups include office workers and students in an exercise class. These groups are also important to our views of ourselves, but less to the primary groups.The notions of the looking-glass self and the primary group are closely related in Cooley's views. The reactions to the thoughts of others is the mark of the mature human and according to Cooley can be developed and fostered only in the close and intimate interactions of the primary group. Hence, this group is the cell in which characteristically human growth takes place. In the primary group the immature and self-centered person is slowly attuned to the needs and desires of others and becomes fitted to the give-and-take of mature social life.The primary group fosters the ability to put oneself into the position of others, drawing the individual out of egotistic isolation by building into him that sensitivity to the clues of others without which social life would be impossible. The differences between primary and secondary groups are as follows, primary groups are smaller because it consists of few members and this helps develop its members personal relations among themselves while secondary groups are larger and due to its size the members do not have personal relations. Relation is natural in primary groups and formal in secondary groups.Also the position of members is determined by his work or function in secondary groups but in primary groups, the position of each person is determined on the basis of the family. Cooley’s sociology is holistic. He stressed about the systematic relationships between social processes in society. He argued that each aspect of society was dependent on others for its growth and survival. If we say that society is an organism, we mean that it is a complex form of processes each of which is living and growing by interaction with the others, the whole being so unified that what takes place in one part affects all the rest.In addition to these essential concerns, Cooley, like W. I Thomas & George H Mead made a crucial important contribution to sociological method. Independently of Max Weber but roughly the same time as he, they argued that the study of human actions must be concerned with the meanings human actors attach to the situation in which they find themselves hence the study must go beyond purely behavioral description. Cooley believed that the social sciences deprived themselves of their best m aterial by leaving out human motives for action.Cooley emphasized that the study of the human social world must be centered upon attempts to examine the subjective meanings human actors attribute to their actions, and that such meanings must be studied in part through ‘understanding' rather than through exclusive reliance on the reporting of behavior. Cooley's theories provided evidence in response to a threefold necessity that had developed within the society. The first of which was the necessity to create an understanding of ocietal phenomena that highlighted the subjective mental processes of individuals yet realized that these subjective processes were effects and causes of society's processes. The second necessity examined the development of a social dynamic conception that pictured states of chaos as natural occurrences which could provide opportunities for â€Å"adaptive innovation. † Finally, a need to demonstrate that people were capable of exerting some form o f â€Å"informed moral control† over current problems and future directions.In conclusion, Charles Cooley is known in sociology most commonly for his development for the looking glass self. Cooley was one of the first to define the exact importance that society plays in forming the individual. He was also renowned for discovering human groups within the society stating that there are primary and secondary groupings that link man to society each having different, however, similar functions. Moreover, he argued that society is like an organism in the sense that each aspect of society is dependent on the other in order to survive.Furthermore Cooley argued that the study of human actions must be concerned with the meanings humans attach to the activity. Finally, Cooley’s theories provided evidence in response to a threefold necessity that developed within the society – necessities to create an understanding of social phenomena, a necessity that examined a social dyn amic conception and a need to demonstrate that people were capable of exerting some form of informed moral control.Bibliography Coser L. A, Masters of Sociological Thought, 2nd Ed, Aarcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1977. Levine, D. N, Visions of the Sociological Tradition. The University of Chicago Press, 1995 Starks, R. Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. Stolley, K. S, The Basics of Sociology, Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut, 2005

Normally, I would have just felt really

It started the moment I woke up.   For some inexplicable reason, my dog, Sammy, decided to chew through the electrical cord and ended up getting fried in the process.Normally, I would have just felt really sad at losing Sammy who had been with me through a number of breakups and the drunken lonely evenings that followed, but I had gotten up late to meet up with this hot girl who asked me out last week.I hurriedly got out of bed to take a quick shower.   It was decidedly the best part of my day.   Uneventful and normal, just the way I like my days.   God had decided differently, however, as I stepped out of the shower only to realize that I had no dry towels.   Sammy, in his infinite wisdom, had apparently decided that his last act on this earth, save the suicide, was to soil all of my towels with his scent.   It was to be one of this many parting gifts to me that day, as I was about to realize.Managing to hurriedly dry myself off like Sammy would have done, I managed to f ind a pair of jeans lying around that was pretty clean.   Not long after that I was fully dressed and ready to go.   Mental checklist of deodorant, wallet, keys, phone all done, I nearly forgot my shoes.   It was amazing though that Sammy didn’t forget my shoes as I slipped my feet into a pool of his saliva that had accumulated inside the only decent pair of shoes that I had.It was the perfect day.   My best buddy dies in a freak electrical cord chewing incident, I dry myself off from the shower by shaking vigorously, and I find that I don’t even have any shoes to wear, all of these events on the one day that they shouldn’t be happening; the day that I was supposed to meet the girl of my dreams.I realize, as I stand there waiting for my dream date, that this was not only the perfect day but it was also the wrong day.   Sammy had somehow left with a last laugh.   He had taken a page off of my calendar and I realize that my date was for tomorrow and no t today.

HS101-02 Uint 8 Project - 1523 Words

HS101: A Day in the Life – Unit 8 Project Part I: A patient has just left the office after having an outpatient surgery procedure. As you get ready to put away the patient’s file, you realize that the patient has forgotten to take his prescriptions and after-care instruction sheets home with him. It is vital for proper healing and recovery for the patient to have these documents. You know you will have to contact this patient so you look inside for his contact information and signed HIPAA Release of Information form. 1. Under HIPAA, are you legally allowed to view this patient’s medical information? Why or why not? Under HIPAA, I would not be legally allowed to view this patient’s medical information. As a certified medical†¦show more content†¦A sense of responsibility can become weakened when one is faced with peer pressure. So to stop and think about the rules and actions I must take before acting made it possible for me to be able to â€Å"answer† or be accountable for my actions. Justice was also demonstrated in this situation, by performing fairness in my actions, and not treating one patient differently then another. Justice entails that the same rules will apply to everyone. This means that as healthcare workers we cannot show favoritism with our patients or our coworkers. Part II: A few days later, you’re on the job and answering the phone while the physician you are working for and your office manager are at lunch. The patient calls back to the office complaining of immense pain. Since you hate to see patient in pain, you pull the patient’s record and see that the physician has prescribed the patient pain medication in the past. Seeing this, you go ahead and order the same prescription for the patient. Later that day, you find out that the patient has suffered a cardiac arrest due to a medication interaction†¦ 1. Would the action taken in this scenario be within your scope of practice for your chosen field? Why or why not? The action taken in this scenario is not within my scope of practice in my chosen field. Because I am not a doctor you cannot prescribe a medication. This is in no way tolerable and could have serious