Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
[the midwife prints out another paper copy]
MIDWIFE:
Here you can see four fi ngers and a thumb here [quietly] (L
ENA
:
yes) you can see that (L
ENA
: yes) it is almost as if you could believe that
this is the mouth [quietly] (L
ENA
: uhum)
[the midwife scans for 10 seconds]
MIDWIFE:
Uhum well then, then I am done (L
ENA
: yes) I will mail you a
report later on.
The midwife declares that 'yes it looks good'. Statements like 'it looks
good', 'everything looks fi ne so far' or 'it looks fi ne', are also found in the
other cases during this last phase of the examination. These utterances can
have various meanings referring to the image as such, as well as to the result
of the whole examination. As no further references are made to the image on
the screen in this example, it is likely that the utterance refers to the result
from the foetal-diagnostic part of the examination, and implicitly confi rms
that everything looks normal. It is less likely that the utterance refers to the
estimated date of delivery, as this is always discussed separately.
It is thus possible to understand these forms of utterance from the midwife
as a summing-up of the examination from a professional perspective:
medically she has not discovered any problems or deviancies to communicate
to the parents, normality is confi rmed. Sometimes, more explicit references
are made to normality.
Example 14
MIDWIFE:
It looks completely normal as far as I can judge it here (K
ATRIN
:
uhum) I don't see anything that deviates anywhere but it is a normal
foetus (K
ATRIN
: yes) and the size as I said is also okay, then as I said on
the whole (K
ATRIN
: yes) uhum it's lying down there wiggling its head
KATRIN:
Yes, it is so small [quietly]
MIDWIFE:
Yes!
MIDWIFE:
Now then, do you have any questions now?
KATRIN:
No.
Here, the midwife concludes that the image of the expected baby looks
normal. The typical pattern is however that the midwife does not specify
what it is that looks fi ne or normal when she tells the parents about the
results of the examination. Interestingly, in this example the midwife fairly
soon leaves her professional perspective again and moves over to show, not
the foetus, but a picture of the baby with a profi le, fi ngers and mouth etc.
Another typical pattern in this example is that the midwife tries to create
an image that is 'worth seeing', something that resembles a portrait, for
instance by pointing out the profi le. The image is thus translated into an
everyday perspective. Finally, the midwife closes the whole examination by
