The silent patient analysis
As the story majorly revolves around the two primary characters. But other than that, secondary characters are not given much attention. The book is written in fairly simple language, there is not much medical jargon that might have made this book complex.
Through Theo we come face to face with many elements in Alicia’s life, that may have been instrumental in the murder. Theo Faber, a psychotherapist with a keen interest in Alicia Berenson. Someone finally takes the dare to solve this mystery, this how our second primary protagonist is introduced. The only clue is the last painting she painted after killing her husband and her long long silence. Sitting in the Grove, a forensic institute, we still don’t know what was the reason she committed such a brutal crime. Six years pass since her refusal to speak, no one has heard one word from her. Shot in the head five times by her and with a refusal to speak anything after that. But one day when the police are called to her house her reason for popularity alters when they find her husband, Gabriel dead. Alicia is an artist who fortes in painting photorealistic oil paintings, which becomes the reason for her popularity. This story essentially revolves around Alicia Berenson and her silence. Hence I am going to be reviewing it like a thriller novice, as it’s my first encounter with psychological warfare that’s unleashed by this book. Silent patient written by Alex Michaelides is the first psychological thriller I have ever read. (Dr.By Daman Kaur on JThe Silent Patient – Going to break my silence over it The uninsured population cannot tap in to the public health resources that are available for treatment of “typical” tuberculosis.Įfforts are those needed to create a philanthropic supported, pharmaceutical sponsored “single window” MCLNO based program to assist patients with atypical TB who require long term treatment. Philanthropic support by patient advocate foundations like the Wetmore Foundation is dependent upon availability of funds. Public health support of undertaking or sharing this cost is erratic, and almost negligible. The cost of the diagnostic tests to reach a decision to treat, or not to treat, notwithstanding, the cost of therapy itself, both in terms of patient tolerance, as well as financial dollar costs is enormous. with chronic respiratory disease who have had previous lung disease and destroyed lung due to old TB and those who have overtly normal lungs and immune status. However, it could be a silent killer and affects both groups of patients i.e. It is not a reportable disease and hence the true incidence is unknown. Since this infection is not known to have human to human transmission, it is not a true public health issue. It is true that the nature of this infection and the knowledge we have as of today makes us complacent regarding its spread.
A correctable problem has turned into a health care nightmare. This patient’s clinical course illustrates the medico-social problem. Later, once again due to financial constraints and lack of availability of all medicines, he took some of his medications some of the time, and not only deteriorated clinically but subsequently developed resistant and multi drug resistant disease (MDRMAC). (He himself described his condition as “being eaten inside”.) Attempts to obtain medications from various social services sources were temporarily successful and when he took the prescribed medicines for two months at a stretch he showed clinical improvement. The Chest X-ray showed progressive deterioration. Although he periodically sought medical attention due to persistent symptoms, his treatment regimen was unsatisfactory due to compliance and availability issues. He complained of subjective fever, night sweats, weight loss, shortness of breath on exertion and chest pain during his follow-up.
Due to the cost of the medicines and personal financial constraints, he was not compliant with his medications and took only some of his medications intermittently. It was recommended that he take these medications for at least a year with regular medical follow-up.
Past history revealed that he was in good health till 1991 when he was diagnosed to have active typical tuberculosis (TB) and treated successfully with the regular TB drugs at that time.Īs he showed clinical signs of disease, he was prescribed other antibiotics specific for this infection.
THE SILENT PATIENT ANALYSIS MAC
His sputum test results showed that he had atypical TB ( Mycobacterium Avium Complex MAC infection). A 44-year-old man presented to the TB Clinic with symptoms of progressive shortness of breath and cough with greenish sputum production.