- Joined
- Apr 4, 2013
- Reaction score
- 417
I had a really awful dilemma today..
I was in a very senior meeting of predominantly senior medical staff and assorted associated professionals like me who were non-medical.The topic is irrelevant but during the course of the meeting someone was discussing the guilt people feel about their cancer and how obsessed they can become about nutrition and diet after recovery to avoid a recurrence.
One nurse was talking about the pressure from families to change their eating habits and not 'go back to eating burgers'. She said it makes her cross that patients are told that eating meat causes colorectal cancer and that they should avoid dairy. She said that there is no connection between meat and cancer . She said and I quote ' if there was a connection between meat eating and cancer we would know and be telling all our patients in clinic about it '.
Every one was nodding and giving examples where people were put under pressure to give up meat and dairy either during or after treatment by family and friends. It was agreed it was irresponsible to lay so much guilt on people and make them believe they had caused their cancer. WTF!!!!
I was in a peculiar situation ..having mentioned Veganism at the previous meeting and remembering the strange and 'irritated; response to my regaling of the Brighton Vegan Festival ..
I did not know how to where to start with this one. I am not a coward and I am not afraid to stand up and quote the China Study! What I am is a single mum struggling to keep a job. The remit of my job is very clear and this is not even my place of work it is a hospital where I am tied in knots not only by my job remit but the ones of the hospital I work in.
I know that waves would be caused by me 'going against the herd' and I am acutely aware there were several people whose greatest delight would be to discredit me as a 'hippie' 'freak' or extremist at a time where I am fighting for funding to continue my post. I do not have the luxury of alternative income or a raft of job opportunities awaiting me I am dependant on this income. Thats why I sat quiet.
BUT..I was fighting the urge to speak and twisting in my seat but ultimately aware that something really needed saying ! Now I am left feeling ashamed that I did not speak up and offended that no one in the meeting either remembered or cared that I was a Veggie. I tried to contact the member of staff afterwards to speak to her and offer her a reading list! But she had left. This is all very uncomfortable .
How could I have dealt with this situation differently ?
I am not sure if there is something I can now do to inform?
And HOW without being told I am non-medical and am not qualified to comment or being called up for extending my remit?
Has anyone else faced a similar situation and how did you deal with it?
I was in a very senior meeting of predominantly senior medical staff and assorted associated professionals like me who were non-medical.The topic is irrelevant but during the course of the meeting someone was discussing the guilt people feel about their cancer and how obsessed they can become about nutrition and diet after recovery to avoid a recurrence.
One nurse was talking about the pressure from families to change their eating habits and not 'go back to eating burgers'. She said it makes her cross that patients are told that eating meat causes colorectal cancer and that they should avoid dairy. She said that there is no connection between meat and cancer . She said and I quote ' if there was a connection between meat eating and cancer we would know and be telling all our patients in clinic about it '.
Every one was nodding and giving examples where people were put under pressure to give up meat and dairy either during or after treatment by family and friends. It was agreed it was irresponsible to lay so much guilt on people and make them believe they had caused their cancer. WTF!!!!
I was in a peculiar situation ..having mentioned Veganism at the previous meeting and remembering the strange and 'irritated; response to my regaling of the Brighton Vegan Festival ..
I did not know how to where to start with this one. I am not a coward and I am not afraid to stand up and quote the China Study! What I am is a single mum struggling to keep a job. The remit of my job is very clear and this is not even my place of work it is a hospital where I am tied in knots not only by my job remit but the ones of the hospital I work in.
I know that waves would be caused by me 'going against the herd' and I am acutely aware there were several people whose greatest delight would be to discredit me as a 'hippie' 'freak' or extremist at a time where I am fighting for funding to continue my post. I do not have the luxury of alternative income or a raft of job opportunities awaiting me I am dependant on this income. Thats why I sat quiet.
BUT..I was fighting the urge to speak and twisting in my seat but ultimately aware that something really needed saying ! Now I am left feeling ashamed that I did not speak up and offended that no one in the meeting either remembered or cared that I was a Veggie. I tried to contact the member of staff afterwards to speak to her and offer her a reading list! But she had left. This is all very uncomfortable .
How could I have dealt with this situation differently ?
I am not sure if there is something I can now do to inform?
And HOW without being told I am non-medical and am not qualified to comment or being called up for extending my remit?
Has anyone else faced a similar situation and how did you deal with it?