Cancer and Medical Treatment

In its last issue Replika launched a new column in which interesting persons talk about the questions they are preoccupied with. The current issue presents a deeply touching monologue. One of our colleagues, who has died in a metastatic uterine tumor, tells the three-year story of her medical treatment. The monologue was recorded few months before her death. As a sociologist of health she gives a penetrating critique of the contemporary Hungarian health-care system, focusing, primarily, on the power structures within the gyneacological departments and the communication patterns between doctors and patients. She also talks about the hopeless struggle of patient organizations against the deficiencies of the institutionalized medical practice in Hungary.