not uncommon and should be a salutary reminder that cultural issues
surrounding death extend to all peoples.
I seriously believe that if I went to hospital and if I wasn’t treated
according to some of my beliefs, I would suffer. If I showed up at the
hospital with my feather, my sweet grass, the things that I believe in,
if I wasn’t allowed to keep these things with me as part of my own
healing, I believe that a doctor could do serious harm to me. Modern
day medicines are fine medicines, but there’s something else that goes
along with that. Treatment is far more than handing out pills. It’s the
way the doctor hands you those pills, it’s how he receives you in his
clinic, how he is able to relate to some of the things you are talking
about. When my uncle died, I wanted to talk to the doctor about
making sure that he went to his spirit world, that all the things that
had been done during an autopsy were all put back and in place. He
didn’t take any time to talk about my concern. He sort of ushered me
out and we ended up having this discussion in a lobby. He had no
concern of what I was talking about, or wanted to talk about, except
to say that ‘when we cut it out we put it back’.^3Closing comments
This chapter has touched on various issues that can help a practitioner
approach aboriginal/traditional medicine practices with which he or she has
little acquaintance. Although sometimes viewed as ‘thinking outside the
box’, understanding the social and historical aspects of medicine can help a
practitioner appreciate that quality care involves negotiating the beliefs,
values and social situations of individual patients. In so doing, a practitioner
needs to appreciate the role of ritual in healthcare, a key factor in under-
standing not only aboriginal practices, but also the history of therapy in
general, a history replete with metaphors and symbolism. Consistency in
encounters between practitioner and patient – whether in conventional
medical settings in surgeries and hospitals or in aboriginal healing cere-
monies – is just one consideration that medical anthropologists point to as
significant in effective therapeutic encounters. Examples, which range from
a doctor’s white coat to the ‘purification’ from a sweetgrass ceremony – and
countless others symbolic of tradition and authority – can contribute to a
patient’s confidence and hope and thereby enhance a placebo effect in both
conventional and non-conventional practices.^37
As important as sensitivity is to non-pharmacological (non-specific)
effects when approaching aboriginal/traditional medical practices in non-
judgemental ways, there is an equal challenge in advising patients about the
60 |Traditional medicine