This Is It

Emad Hasan

Professor Kaye

English Composition 1A

5 March 2013

The Use of Force

August 4, 2012, marks the day my perception of physicians changed. It was the day my arthroscopic knee surgery was scheduled. I remember the physicians prepping me for surgery, I remember my nerves going haywire, and I remember the nurses doing nothing to reassure me that everything was going to be okay. They had asked me if I was nervous, and I replied with a smile, “Yes, yes I am.” The nurses laughed and told me to quit being a baby, but I did not find any humor in that. The room was cold, ice cold, and the walls were similar to that of an asylum – four white walls. The nurses hovered over me as they were setting me up for surgery by attaching nodes all over my chest. One of the nurses approached me and said, “Here, this is oxygen, it should help settle your nerves,” and that was it, that is all I remembered, until I woke up. The “oxygen” the nurses had placed over my mouth was actually anesthesia, and I felt a sense of betrayal once it was all over. I felt similar to the little girl William Carlos William’s writes about in “The Use of Force.” Violated, untrusting, and betrayed – these are the words that come to mind when I read the story and recall my experience with my physician. A doctor’s duties are to help his patient’s, they are sworn under oath to do so. The doctor depicted in William’s story shows a transformation of a reasonable man into a short tempered, untrustworthy physician. Through his pleasant demeanor and charming smile was a man who was willing to go to extreme lengths to get what he wanted, even at the cost of a little girl’s life.

Although the doctor gracefully addressed the Olson family, his inner thoughts exposed how he truly felt. Olson lacked the respect from the minute he entered the Olson home, and initially displayed a lackadaisical attempt to have the girl open her mouth. The doctor’s first attempt at having the girl open her mouth...