Abstract

HEREDIA, Candela. The burden of relieving pain. Ethnography of drug use in Pediatric Palliative Care. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2019, vol.12, n.2, pp.113-122. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v12.n2.23905.

Pharmaceutical anthropology tackles the relationship between the pharmacological industry, self-medication, prescription, distribution, uses and meanings of medication. In the context of this anthropological approach, this paper analyzes the meanings related to the drugs used in a pediatric palliative care service of a public hospital in Buenos Aires Capital City. An ethnographic fieldwork was carried out during 2015. It was found that the negative and positive effects of drug consumption are two sides of the same coin: they are two poles opposed inside pharmakon. In this paper supports the idea that the burden of relieving pain is inherent in the usual uses of palliative medication. It is concluded that medications are entities in which ideas and social values are condensed and also that these drugs are used by patients to develop their agency. They model the sensibilities and bodily-affective perceptions.

Keywords : Medications; Pediatric Palliative Care; Pain; Adverse effects; Pharmakon.

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