Series Title: "Care, Control, and Power: Reclaiming Humanity in Healthcare"

"Where control dominates, care is diminished. This series explores how systems of power shape the experience of healthcare — and how we reclaim compassion, dignity, and relational care." - Mary Coughlin

I'm super excited to announce this very important series that will unfold over the next 6 weeks beginning tomorrow, January 2nd, 2025 and welcome your thoughts, insights, comments and feedback!

Series Overview

The healthcare system is built on structures of power that affect every person who enters its doors — patients, parents, clinicians, and even administrators. While power is necessary for safety, order, and efficiency, it can also become a source of control, exclusion, and harm. When control takes precedence over care, humanity is diminished.

This series will explore how power shapes healthcare experiences, focusing on women, children, and clinicians in systems like NICUs, Catholic hospitals, and maternal care. Through personal stories, reflective prompts, and calls to action, we’ll examine the impact of policies, hierarchies, and institutional power. We’ll also provide a path forward: one that shifts healthcare from control to care.

The series will include six powerful posts, each of which can stand alone, but together they tell a broader story of systemic power and human-centered care. The series will culminate in a live webinar where readers can engage directly with these concepts, share their own stories, and discuss how to foster healing within healthcare systems.