Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Ms. Simpson is a 58-year-old woman who has hypertension, is overweight, and has smoked a pack a day for the last 40 years.She recently suffered a heart attack.As an internist I know this case is all too common and comes in many variations.Though we can see the role of Ms. Simpson's personal choices in her heart attack, there are outside influences of which she and others like her may be unaware.No one forced her to make the individual choices she has made over the last few decades, but there were indeed forces working against her making healthier decisions.Let us look more closely at her life and the context of her choices and health behaviors to discern who else may have played a role.We will examine what could have been and still can be done to ameliorate her situation, and, more generally, reverse the cardiovascular disease (CVD) trend in our country. Ms. Simpson's SurroundingsMs. Simpson lives with her 35-year-old daughter and two grandchildren, whom she helps look after.Since her heart attack, Ms. Simpson has been on disability from her job at the post office.Her daughter is a single mother who works as a phlebotomist.The Simpsons live in an area that would be considered a "food desert" for its lack of supermarkets that supply fresh produce and other healthy food items.
Source: The AMA Journal of Ethic
Author: Jane S. Jue
Institutions: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, University of Pennsylvania
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W184551112