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The Pain Scale

Decent Essays

In the article “The Pain Scale”, Biss is giving a proposal to definition of the pain scale. The author scaled the pain in a numeric values represented by a scale from zero to ten. First, is the zero scale. As Biss described herself as some one who generate question instead of answering them, she thinks that pain cannot be eliminated. Meaning, zero cannot explain a situation, just like its numerical value, we cannot apply some computational operations to it. Then, the author goes to explain how zero is interpreted in Celsius and Kelvin. To illustrate her point, she used the chicken as an example. The concept of the chicken example is that when we grab the chicken by its feet and the chicken is not complaining, that does not mean that the chicken is in no pain. The moral of zero pain is that either the pain cannot be expressed or it can not be felt. Second, the author started with the stories of how she was taught what is pain and who invented the scale of zero to ten pain scale. For example, Biss’s father told her that an itch is just a damaged tissue. Biss then asks a very complex question, she said “When does pain worth measuring? With poison ivy? With a hang nail?… A razor cut?” This shows how complex it is to judge where the pain begins. Even with a trained hospice nurses, not every pain can be identified. Biss conclude the scale one by assuming that zero and one are close to each other to the point where they might equal each other. Third, the scale number two starts

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