Everything Is Tuberculosis: A Review

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John Green teaches empathy by illustrating the stories

of individuals, past and present, who were plagued by the world’s deadliest disease:

tuberculosis, also known as consumption. Henry, a young Sierra Leonean boy suffering from

drug-resistant tuberculosis (caused by a pause in treatment), is introduced as a modern-day

example of this disease, reminding us that it is still prevalent in many parts of the world:

“Nothing is so privileged as thinking history belongs to the past” (Green 8). After his father

pulled him out of treatment in favor of faith-based healing, Henry developed drug-resistant

tuberculosis. Years earlier, his younger sister, Favor, passed away from a cancerous tumor

when their family was unable to pay for treatment. Henry’s life was further disrupted by the

Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which caused disarray in the country’s healthcare system and

limited the number of available caregivers.

Many would say Henry’s story is one of strength and resilience, choosing to see his life as a

reminder that we could all become ill at any time and in any way, and therefore should be

grateful for our health. Empathy is a core principle of healthcare ethics, a field many of us

dream of entering. The ethical relationship between a patient and their caretaker is just as

important as the practical one: Can I help this person without first understanding what they’re

going through? And how, if I can, do I put myself in their shoes? John Green answers this

question in a stimulating way: “We see Henry as a human individual who wrote lovely

paragraphs and poems, who encouraged not just fellow TB survivors but also his

caregivers… will we see him as a valuable person interwoven into one human story, or will

we see him as a non-compliant five-year-old? There is a benefit to systematising healthcare,

to treating everyone like they are everyone else, but there is also a cost.”

The label “non-compliant” is given to TB patients who pause treatment, and it was applied to Henry as a result of his father’s decision after hearing misinformation about the effectiveness of the prescribed drugs. As future or current healthcare workers, we should strive to understand Henry and his family as individuals affected by poverty, misunderstanding, circumstance, and differing belief systems. We should ask why someone like Henry was unable to continue treatment and how we can better support him, since ethical care requires that we treat all patients with equal respect, including those labeled as “difficult.”

Overall, Everything Is Tuberculosis is an essential read for anyone seeking to

understand the nuances and complexities of healthcare ethics and how poverty, history, and

geographic location can shape how we view illness and how we treat it.