Extra Credit Essay

Ryan Coffey
3 March 2010
Dr. Beaujot
World Civilizations II

Response to En Vie en Rose

The assignment is to write a paper indicting the medical treatments of the day. Edith Piaf lived during a time when dentistry used tools similar to that of a carpenter. The solution to every ailment was to take two pills and call me in the morning. Edith Piaf did not have strong bones as a result of her upbringing. She was lacking for food throughout her young life. This caused her to have premature arthritis. To help the pain go away, she was under a constant regimen of morphine injections. Morphine of course is highly addictive. We do not know if she was addicted for life before her accident and subsequent stay in the hospital or if it was during her stay in the hospital, but the main point is that she for the better part of her adult life, Edith Piaf was addicted to pain killers. At least that is what the movie seems to have indicated, but I digress. Today, we have calcium tablets, electronic walkers, things that would have made her life a bit easier. Of course if she had been alive today, even in France, she probably would have been fed better and may not have developed the problems that she did in the first place. The doctors were at a loss as to how to treat her, or at least they appeared to be so in the movie. She would often beg the doctor to do something for her and all they could offer up was a shot of morphine, and some would not even do that. While doctors are highly intelligent individuals, some of the most intelligent in western society, there is only so much they can do for the betterment of their patients, even today. Had Edith Piaf been treated today, her life may have been extended by maybe ten, fifteen years. But she seemed ready to go. She appeared despondent long before she actually went in the movie. She had so much happen to her that having even more memories, predominantly bad ones, could have led to a number of psychological problems that she did not have to deal with. She had enough psychological difficulties as it was while still grasping control over her decisions. All one can really say is that medicine is an inexact science. That is why it is said that doctors practice medicine rather than call themselves healers. Their job is to help people live out their lives in the best way they can physically. She did not recover fully as she had hoped when she began her addiction rehabilitation in 1961, but what she did do was try to live her life out the best way she knew how. I am sure that her doctors did everything they could for her, but what can one do for someone who is rapidly decaying. The only reliable thing to do is to try to make their last days as comfortable as possible. Maybe one day many of the degenerative conditions out there will be curable and people will be able to live a more enjoyable last years of their life. But maybe life just is that way sometimes. Life throws us tough breaks like Piaf had and she lived with it the best way she knew how. Like I said, doctors would not be able to do much more for her now than they could then. Although after the Michael Jackson incident, morphine is regulated even more than it was during Piaf’s time. The main point is that no matter what treatment doctors might come up with, nothing is as strong as one’s will to live and her will to live that had been so strong throughout her life went out once her singing career was gone for good. It is difficult to speculate but the point is that if the spirit of person no longer wishes to go on living, the body often follows.