“It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India
Abstract Background Ensuring patient rights is an extension of applying human rights principles to health care. A critical examination of how the notion of patient rights is perceived and enacted by various actors through critical discourse analysis (CDA) can help understand the impediments to its r...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-03-01
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| Series: | International Journal for Equity in Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01850-5 |
| _version_ | 1797865241147604992 |
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| author | Meena Putturaj Sara Van Belle Anja Krumeich Prashanth NS Nora Engel |
| author_facet | Meena Putturaj Sara Van Belle Anja Krumeich Prashanth NS Nora Engel |
| author_sort | Meena Putturaj |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Ensuring patient rights is an extension of applying human rights principles to health care. A critical examination of how the notion of patient rights is perceived and enacted by various actors through critical discourse analysis (CDA) can help understand the impediments to its realization in practice. Methods We studied the discourses and discursive practices on patient rights in subnational policies and in ten health facilities in southern Karnataka, India. We conducted interviews (78), focus group discussions (3) with care-seeking individuals, care-providers, health care administrators and public health officials. We also conducted participant observation in selected health facilities and examined subnational policy documents of Karnataka pertaining to patient rights. We analyzed the qualitative data for major and minor themes. Results Patient rights discourses were not based upon human rights notions. In the context of neoliberalism, they were predominantly embedded within the logic of quality of care, economic, and consumerist perspectives. Relatively powerful actors such as care-providers and health facility administrators used a panoply of discursive strategies such as emphasizing alternate discourses and controlling discursive resources to suppress the promotion of patient rights among care-seeking individuals in health facilities. As a result, the capacity of care-seeking individuals to know and claim patient rights was restricted. With neoliberal health policies promoting austerity measures on public health care system and weak implementation of health care regulations, patient rights discourses remained subdued in health facilities in Karnataka, India. Conclusions The empirical findings on the local expression of patient rights in the discourses allowed for theoretical insights on the translation of conceptual understandings of patient rights to practice in the everyday lives of health system actors and care-seeking individuals. The CDA approach was helpful to identify the problematic aspects of discourses and discursive practices on patient rights where health facility administrators and care-providers wielded power to oppress care-seeking individuals. From the practical point of view, the study demonstrated the limitations of care-seeking individuals in the discursive realms to assert their agency as practitioners of (patient) rights in health facilities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:04:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27d443a8b222443ba78642e2d986b18d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1475-9276 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:04:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal for Equity in Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-27d443a8b222443ba78642e2d986b18d2023-03-22T10:43:25ZengBMCInternational Journal for Equity in Health1475-92762023-03-0122111410.1186/s12939-023-01850-5“It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, IndiaMeena Putturaj0Sara Van Belle1Anja Krumeich2Prashanth NS3Nora Engel4Institute of Tropical MedicineInstitute of Tropical MedicineMaastricht UniversityInstitute of Public HealthMaastricht UniversityAbstract Background Ensuring patient rights is an extension of applying human rights principles to health care. A critical examination of how the notion of patient rights is perceived and enacted by various actors through critical discourse analysis (CDA) can help understand the impediments to its realization in practice. Methods We studied the discourses and discursive practices on patient rights in subnational policies and in ten health facilities in southern Karnataka, India. We conducted interviews (78), focus group discussions (3) with care-seeking individuals, care-providers, health care administrators and public health officials. We also conducted participant observation in selected health facilities and examined subnational policy documents of Karnataka pertaining to patient rights. We analyzed the qualitative data for major and minor themes. Results Patient rights discourses were not based upon human rights notions. In the context of neoliberalism, they were predominantly embedded within the logic of quality of care, economic, and consumerist perspectives. Relatively powerful actors such as care-providers and health facility administrators used a panoply of discursive strategies such as emphasizing alternate discourses and controlling discursive resources to suppress the promotion of patient rights among care-seeking individuals in health facilities. As a result, the capacity of care-seeking individuals to know and claim patient rights was restricted. With neoliberal health policies promoting austerity measures on public health care system and weak implementation of health care regulations, patient rights discourses remained subdued in health facilities in Karnataka, India. Conclusions The empirical findings on the local expression of patient rights in the discourses allowed for theoretical insights on the translation of conceptual understandings of patient rights to practice in the everyday lives of health system actors and care-seeking individuals. The CDA approach was helpful to identify the problematic aspects of discourses and discursive practices on patient rights where health facility administrators and care-providers wielded power to oppress care-seeking individuals. From the practical point of view, the study demonstrated the limitations of care-seeking individuals in the discursive realms to assert their agency as practitioners of (patient) rights in health facilities.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01850-5Patient rightsCritical discourse analysisHealth facilitiesHuman rights |
| spellingShingle | Meena Putturaj Sara Van Belle Anja Krumeich Prashanth NS Nora Engel “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India International Journal for Equity in Health Patient rights Critical discourse analysis Health facilities Human rights |
| title | “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India |
| title_full | “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India |
| title_fullStr | “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India |
| title_full_unstemmed | “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India |
| title_short | “It’s like asking for a necktie when you don’t have underwear”: Discourses on patient rights in southern Karnataka, India |
| title_sort | it s like asking for a necktie when you don t have underwear discourses on patient rights in southern karnataka india |
| topic | Patient rights Critical discourse analysis Health facilities Human rights |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01850-5 |
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