Code of Veggie Soup is a project conceived in regard to the exhibition series, “Baneful Medicine”.
During his preparation for “Baneful Medicine,” John Seung-Hwan Lee visited South Korea. Although he’s made occasional visits, he hadn’t celebrated the Lunar New Year there in almost 20 years, and participating in ancestral rites made him reflect on family and death. With “Baneful Medicine” in mind as a ceremony for the living, he revived a ritual of drinking a “vegetable soup for cancer patients” prepared from a recipe written by Japanese researchers in the 1990s. At that time, Lee underwent chemotherapy for leukemia, and his mother made the soup so he could drink it every day.
While discussing the meaning of illness, his uncles talked about the process of aging and dying as comparable to how all things in nature and the universe change. Lee then thought about health in simple terms. Functioning and feeling vital. Accepting the consequences of choices. Staying connected to give and receive influence.
The text in Code of Veggie Soup is from the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics, extensively from chapters pertaining to “the health of the community” and “financing & delivery of health care.”
In the early 1900s, in order to minimize market competition from homeopathic physicians, the allopathic physicians group, the AMA, established licensure laws and restrictions on the number of medical schools in the US. Under the name of “scientific” practice, the AMA worked closely with financiers such as Carnegie Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, who invested in surgical and radiology research and synthetic drugs, to turn medicine into an industry.1 Also in order to maintain the licensed physician’s authority, the AMA established an insurance model that favored big companies.2 The domination today of a one-sided medical practice focused on technology, drugs, and insurance, seems to reflect our capitalist economy where private interest overwhelms public benefit. Our ill society shows symptoms of a lack of community, collectivity, and political engagement in the sense that individual freedom manifests itself as indifference.
When Lee had leukemia, the soup acted on a more physical level. This time, through “Code of Veggie Soup,” it acted on a more political and spiritual level as he and his family reconnected through discussing the project and performing the ritual together.
Source:
1E. Richard Brown, Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in America (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1979), 5-12.
Frank W. Stahnisch, Marja Verhoef; The Flexner Report of 1910 and Its Impact on Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Psychiatry in North America in the 20th Century, December 26, 2012; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3543812/
2Lily Rothman; The American Health Care Has Lots of Problems. Here’s When They Started, July 13, 2017; http://time.com/4837864/healthcare-history-beginning-obamacare-ahca/
Be Aware
notice patterns
address systemic barriers
Acknowledge the error
have a further responsibility
avert the harms caused by violence and abuse
suspect that an adverse event has occurred
Consider abuse as a possible factor
Routinely inquire about physical, sexual, and psychological abuse as part of the medical history
participate in the political process
Base fees (if any) on reasonable costs
pay a reasonable amount
play a role in decision making
Encourage shared decision making
Advocate for change
make changes in their own lives
violate state practice laws
make it difficult to manage
Support research that examines health care disparities, including research on the unique health needs of all genders, ethnic groups, and medically disadvantaged populations, and the development of quality measures and resources to help reduce disparities
Recognize that over reliance on financial incentives may undermine
come into contact
encourage the partner
require extensive involvement
be affected by other
explain the nature
seek treatment within the context
Advocate for healthier schools, workplaces and communities
eliminate biased behavior
increase the diversity
share an ethical foundation
better understand factors that can influence patients’ health care decisions, such as cultural traditions, health beliefs and health literacy, language or other barriers to communication
take appropriate action
Choose the course of action that requires fewer resources
reduce the volume
Be transparent about alternatives
bring changes to medicine
pursue life
have a right to know
increase awareness
distinguish the limits of their medical knowledge
detect rare or unexpected consequences of use of a drug
manifest in a variety of subtle ways
Cultivate effective communication
Establish mechanisms to monitor the effect of new institutional arrangements on patient care and well-being
be dedicated to providing competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights
create conditions for practice
practice at their full capacity, but not beyond
support access to medical care for all people
provide the same quality of care to all patients
balance dual responsibilities to promote the welfare and confidentiality of the individual patient, and to protect public safety
balance individual liberties with the social goals of public
Develop educational materials and programs
maintain a healthy lifestyle
Code of Veggie Soup
2019
Digital photo documentation of
production and ritual
and found text on web
contributors:
Artist: John Seung-Hwan Lee 이승환
Mom: So-Yun An 안소연
Dad: Dong-Ho Lee 이동호
Wife: Siri Lindskrog
Uncle: Byung-Yong An 안병용
Uncle: Byung-Sun An 안병선