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The clinical subject: adolescents in a cleft‐palate clinic
Author(s) -
Silverman David
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9566.1983.tb00435.x
Subject(s) - subject (documents) , medicine , psychology , orthodontics , developmental psychology , dentistry , pediatrics , computer science , world wide web
The paper examines the format and some interactional dilemmas of outpatient consultations in a clinic for cleft lip and palate. Three problems are addressed. First, the adolescent patient's status as a ‘consumer’ is problematic: it is ambiguous whether they can be entrusted with decision‐making on their own behalf. Second, there is the problematic status of parents’ rights. Third, the policy implications of these problems are raised in relation to the conduct of child‐centred’ medicine. It is suggested that socializing the clinic may reinforce, rather than undercut, professional dominance.