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Cassandra Haddon
English 101: Rhetoric
Mr.Newman
30 September 2014
Misdiagnosing pelvic-floor dysfunction

Doctors go to school to cure people, but theyre not really curing the right problem.
People are always in and out of hospitals trying to find out what is wrong, they get more and
more hospital bills but no answer. Sometimes instead of finding out what is really wrong with
their patients they just go with what they think is wrong and prescribe medicine for the wrong
illness. In Sari Harrars article Pelvic-Floor Dysfunction: Are You at Risk? in Readers Digest,
published on October 2014, she uses pathos and logos successfully to address the topic of how
how doctors may misdiagnose people with back pains or other pains when it is really pelvicfloor dysfunction.
Harrar starts her article with a quote from a woman name Lisa. Harrar gives her readers
information how Lisas pain started off. By telling Lisas story and using quotes from Lisa,
Harrar is using pathos towards her readers. Harrar uses quotes from those suffering from pain,
like Lisa, to make an appeal using pathos to get the readers' interest: "I'm a strong woman. But
the pain was excruciating. At one point, I was curled in a ball at work, sobbing. and I hated
waking up and wondering if Id get through work and be able to spend time with my kids and
husband or end up just lying on the couch again,. It was these quotes that really touched
peoples hearts and caught their attention. Harrar continues to use quotes from other women
throughout her article. If Harrar had not included any quotes, people could not feel connected
with their problems. Harrar also uses quotes from doctors to show that there are some doctors

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who see that most doctors do not try to find the real problem with the patient. Harrar quotes
Amy, a pelvic floor physical therapist, Often, doctors treat symptoms in the affected organ or
joint rather than find the real cause.They try to treat just the vulva pain, the constipation, or the
hip joints. But when you miss the cause, you cant really fix the problem, doctors do not spend
enough time trying to find the real ailment they just try to cure the symptoms that come from the
real diagnosis.
In addition to Harrar using pathos, she also uses logos to make her argument defensible
and to show her readers that she knows what she is talking about. One way that she uses logos is
that she uses a sufficient amount of statistics throughout her article. Harrar explains that the risk
triples in women in their 50s and 60s. She also quotes that, giving birth boosts your chances of
developing a pelvic-floor issue by 18 percent if youve had one child and 32 percent if youve
had three or more. from a doctor in the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute.
Supplementary to Harrar adding quotes and statistics she also adds the fact that certain
complications with the body can make the percentage increase. Additional to that, she talks about
the side effects of the dysfunction. Harrar states it presents as a bowel disorder; endometriosis;
or bladder, hip, back, or abdominal pain. doctors can pass any of those symptoms off as
something else. Harrar captures her readers trust by giving many statistics and using quotes from
doctors of the pelvic-floor facility
Although we may feel as if we can fully trust our doctors, sometimes doctors end up
making the mistake of misdiagnosing, therefore you should never just believe one doctor. Harrar
was able to utilize the strategy of pathos and ethos to inform her audience of how doctors can
easily make the mistake of trying to cure the wrong problem and notify them of the symptoms of
pelvic-floor dysfunction and how to treat the problem.
Work Cited

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Harrar, Sari. "Pelvic-Floor Dysfunction: Are You at Risk? | Reader's Digest."Reader's Digest.
N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.