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Medical Professionals Abusing their Power

Aidan Stapleton

Florida State University

ENC 2135 Research, Genre, and Context

Cole Meyer

February 26, 2021

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Medical professionals are well-respected individuals who endured years of

challenging school and practice to achieve their status in the health field. However, with these

roles comes a great deal of power, a privilege that has long been abused. Medical workers have

abused their position of power in forms of sexual abuse, writing incorrect or inappropriate

prescriptions, and carrying out personal problems in the medical setting. This issue is addressed

by certain genres such as podcasts, written articles, social media posts, and informative

documentaries. The podcast “Believed” by the National Public Radio and a chilling article titled

“Medicine’s Power Problem” by Abraar Karan illuminate the grave issue that is abuse by

medical professionals.

In 2018, Lindsey Smith and Kate Wells of the National Public Radio produced an eight-

part podcast series analyzing the actions of former United States gymnast doctor Larry Nassar,

titled “Believed” (Smith and Wells, 2018). The podcast won a 2018 Peabody Award, and Smith

and Wells were awarded the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists for their work.

In addition, Smith’s work with the National Public Radio has gotten her recognized by the

Michigan Association of Broadcasters numerous times. Nassar assaulted nearly three hundred

young women and girls during his tenure as a team doctor and has been sentenced to sixty years

in prison. The podcast was created to answer the immense number of questions surrounding the

ordeal, as many wondered how this type of abuse had sustained over such a long period of time,

as well as how Nassar managed to keep his victims silent. Furthermore, Smith and Wells

attempted to explain why it is so hard for survivors to speak up and be heard during and after

times of sexual abuse. In addition, the rise of the “Me Too” movement in 2018 made the podcast

relevant and vastly important. The audience of the podcast series is not explicit yet serves a wide

range of people, such as individuals passionate about social justice, supporters of the “Me Too”
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movement, and feminists. In addition, habitual National Public Radio listeners, as well as

podcast listeners in general would make up part of the audience. An important aspect of the

podcast series is the ordering of the episodes. Although it is not absolutely necessary to listen to

the eight-part series in order, it certainly helps as the speakers narrate over a chronological

timeline. This enables the podcast to provide great detail and insight in each episode and permits

a weekly audience to develop. The speakers utilize memoirs from abused victims, arguments

presented in Nassar’s court case, and statements from the victims’ parents to develop their ideas

and concepts. Smith and Well’s appeal to the audience’s pathos by presenting the emotional

memories of the abused victims. Furthermore, Rachel Denhollander, an abused victim, discussed

Nassar’s misconduct and recalled her mother’s powerful words, “ You cannot bury this, this will

destroy you; so I’m going to help you deal with this.” The appeal to pathos is further

strengthened by the comments of the enraged parents, who demonstrate their extreme disgust

with Nassar in their own testimonies. The emotionally charged discussion adds to the strength of

the argument by making the audience feel outraged and passionate about the events that had

taken place. The two women organized the podcast series in a specific manner, beginning with

the background information and Nassar’s position as the United States gymnastics doctor. This

led into a description of his tenure and how he manipulated his victims to keep them silent. In

addition, the podcast is offered in an audio only format, presenting a limitation of the artifact.

This eliminates all potential listeners who prefer visual podcasts over audio ones. However, the

authors do incorporate a written-out portion of the podcast on their website, including a full

transcript and photos showing what they discussed in the audio. A new audience that prefers

written material over audio is able to learn about the events surrounding Larry Nassar. Lastly, the

podcast’s inclusion of powerful court statements and memoirs to conclude the podcast series
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leaves the audience speechless and overcome with emotion. The serious, eerie tone expressed

throughout the episodes, such as when the hosts were recounting the explicit details of Nassar’s

abuse, is changed to an empowered one at the end, where the speakers address the abused

victims directly, commending them for their braveness and courage. This artifact illuminates a

specific example of medical professionals abusing their position and power.

In 2019, Abraar Karan highlighted the often-silenced abuse that is carried out by medical

staff in his article titled “Medicine’s Power Problem” for scientificamerican.com (Karan, 2019).

Karan is a renowned global health physician and writer, cowriting famous book Protecting the

Health of the Poor: Social Movements in the Global South. Karan also serves as a columnist for

a variety of medical journals and websites, such as American Medical Association’s Journal of

Ethics, the British Medical Journal, and NPR.org. He has also proved to be vital in

Massachusetts’s COVID-19 epidemic response team, working tirelessly, hand in hand with

Monica Bharel, the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Karan’s

credentials and status appeals to the ethos of his audience by demonstrating his credibility in the

medical field. It is unclear what prompted this writing; however Karan’s serious, somewhat

indignant tone suggests that his own experience or observation of abuse in the medical field is

the exigence for Karan writing the article. This tone, evident in his concluding phrase, “We don’t

need any more powerful doctors in medicine—what we need are good people”, demonstrates the

need for a systematic change in the medical field. The author targets medical professionals with

his article, conveyed through his use of unifying diction, such as “we” and “us.” Nevertheless,

this kind of article attracts individuals who would be passionate or interested in social justice,

medicine reform, and persons in the medical field. Thus, the purpose of Karan’s writing is to
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publicize a silenced issue and to perhaps give motivation to those that have been abused. Karan

appeals to the pathos of the audience while describing the stories of abused victims. For

example, the explicit language describing the sexual assault of Aja Newman, a young lady who

checked into the emergency room at Mount Sinai Hospital with severe shoulder pain. Instead of

receiving medical treatment, Newman was drugged with morphine and sexually abused by an

older doctor. This account provides the audience with a specific example of abuse, further

appealing to the pathos of the audience with this emotional account. His referencing of Aja

Newman’s story leads into a powerful statement regarding medical “heroes” who hold great

deals of power, with little supervision. He calls out both medical institutions and professionals to

actively attempt to end this ubiquitous abuse. This ending serves as a powerful statement to leave

the audience passionate about the issue at hand. . This artifact highlights medical professionals

abusing their position and power.

Lindsey Smith and Kate Wells addressed the issue of abuse by medical professionals in

the form of an eight-part podcast series, while Abraar Karan conveyed the same message in the

form of a written article. The artifacts differ in their modes of communication, as one is a

podcast series and the other is a website article. Nevertheless, there several similarities between

the artifacts. For example, the authors of both pieces convey a stern tone, demonstrated in

“Believed” when the abused Rachel Denhollander is discussing Nassar’s misconduct

Denhollander recalls her mother’s powerful words, “ You cannot bury this, this will destroy you;

so I’m going to help you deal with this.” Similarly, when concluding his solemn article, Karan

leaves with the statement, “We don’t need any more powerful doctors in medicine—what we

need are good people.” Both articles hold a strong appeal to the pathos, as the emotionally

charged testimonies of Nassar’s abused victims offered in the podcast series, as well as the
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disturbing memoir of Aja Newman outlined by Abraar Karan connect with the readers emotions

and strengthening the appeal to pathos. The appeal to pathos is the strongest rhetorical device in

both artifacts and is the most effective way that the authors engage their audience with their

work. Abraar Karan’s appeal to ethos is strong due to his impressive status and credentials and

the “Believed” podcast also holds a strong appeal to ethos due to the incorporation of the abused

victim’s testimonies. Their first-hand account of the disgusting actions against them provide the

audience with direct accounts of abuse. In addition, both articles have weak appeals to logos.

Karan’s article fails to present any statistics or numerical evidence and the podcast’s sole use of

data comes while outlining the copious amounts of charges against Nassar. Nevertheless,

ominous effect of hearing all of the revolting charges makes up for the lack of data. Furthermore,

some limitations of “Believed” include the separation of the podcast into episodes and how hard

it is to find online, as it is not available on some podcast sites. This diminishes the size of the

audience as listeners must search hard for the podcast and then return to listen to all eight of the

episodes. There are not any factors limiting the effectiveness of Karaan’s “Medicine’s Power

Problem,” excluding the fact that it is a written article and is unavailable to the illiterate or blind.

Overall, although both artifacts vary greatly in structure and modes of expression, they are

extremely effective in addressing the abuse occurring in the medical field.

Medical workers have long been perpetrators of abuse yet have been protected by their

status as prestigious individuals in society. The podcast “Believed” by hosts Lindsey Smith and

Kate Wells of the National Public Radio and a powerful article written by Abraar Karan

underlines the paramount issue that is abuse by medical professionals.

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References:

Karan, A. (2019, November 09). Medicine's power problem. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/medicines-power-problem/

Smith, L., Wells, K. (Hosts).  (2018, October). Believed [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510326/believed