Letters to the Editor
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Race and Health Care
The article is interesting from many different perspectives. Although Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of having an honest dialogue about race between the races, information keeps piling up that demonstrates that there are real racial problems in American society. The media was quick to put a lid on expanding the dialogue that began because of statements made by the Rev. Wright, but merely because an issue isn't addressed doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
If doctors have racial biases, can you begin to imagine how racial biases affect police officers, prosecutors, judges and jurors in trials? No one wants to address these issues because it makes them uncomfortable to face the realities of minorities living and dying in this country.
When will people begin to understand that we can't move forward as a nation if we're hamstrung by racial profiling, either consciously or unconsciously?
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Insightful Dr.
Thank you for writing about this topic honestly and thoughtfully. It is hard to imagine dr's as "racist". But your article is insightful without placing blame or judgement.
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Interesting but not new
It shouldn't suprise anyone that doctors, like everybody else, have built in biases. Frankly, it's cliche that docs are somehow more angelic than anybody else, especially in this day and age, where we've brought everybody down to earth.
the doc does make a good point in pointing out that implict biases differ from explicit biases, although I'm sure that there's more than one doc who can't stand to treat "those types of people" for outward reasons,
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How far haven't we come?
How frustrating is it to see that every time we have a "national conversation" about race, we keep coming back to it? Remember the Rutger's basketball team and Don Imus? Remember Obama's speech on race? Now we're told, in some subliminal Freudian way, that we're all racist? Makes me think we'll never get past it.
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Being black in this country is bad for your health?
Maybe it is, but it sounds like too much of the victim mentality that drives racial stereotypes as well. I prefer the Bill Cosby approach to this kind of statement: Stop complaining and give it all you've got!
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lastlaugh, that's isn't fair
I'm new to this whole thing, but I think it's fair to say that being black can be harmful to your health. That's what this article is all about, and evidence after evidence proves it. Now if the police have the same biases, they'll treat people the same way in their sphere of authority--ie, pulling over blacks because of "suspicions" based on their training. that's similar to what's being described here. I do think there are minorities (not just African-Americans) who have the victim mentality, but that comment isn't an example of it.
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cool article
As opposed to that "national conversation" comment, I think this is an insightful piece that helps carry on a discussion that this country has had forever and will probably continue to have forever about race in our daily lives. We are a tribal people, and we tend to stick with our own and be wary of differences--I think to some degree it's a natural defense we must have from eons of evolution. On the other hand, we have the higher function to override our prejudices (whether we realize we have them or not) and look beyond them.
While some, like lastlaugh, may think all of this is naive or cliche, I think we've got to keep the discussion going, and not just based on the news cycle like with Imus and Rutgers. So thanks to this website for keeping it going.
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killedthecat
you're right--that does sound naive
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Sad facts, but solution is in our hands
Great article. There are so many different ways that biases, racial or not, enter into decisions and practices in America. The fact that people are being physically hurt, or even losing their lives, over some of these biases is really sad. And, as the article points out, racial bias in health care is not a small, isolated phenomenon. We can and should call for changes within the industry to address these problems.
But we also need to take it upon ourselves to do something about the situation. After all, should you or I count on someone else to take care of all of our health needs? The answer is no. We all need to partner with our doctors and do the best we can to take care of ourselves and our fellow citizens.
In other words, every day we have to work with each other to deal with biases. It's the Good Samaritan rule -- if we see bias at play when health and life are on the line, it's our moral responsibility, whether we're doctors or not, to do something about it. If the health care industry can be held accountable for letting patient data fall into the wrong hands, surely we can hold the health care industry responsible for letting those in need go without proper care.
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Doctor Bigotry Not Limited to Race
Unfortunately bigotry in the medical profession is not confined to race, gender or social status--though these all play a role--but is also based on the type of illness patients have. There is probably no class of patient that is as widely despised and mistrusted by doctors as people with chronic pain. There is a an almost pathological hatred and hostility expressed towards pain patients by far too many doctors in our system, and you can quickly find thousands of stories of abuse, humiliation and denial of care by doctors on pain patient forums.
Unlike racism against Blacks, which is considered politically incorrect and rarely expressed openly, doctors feel no inhibitions about broadcasting their hatred and ignorance of pain patients. There are many ER blogs out there where doctors habitually refer to pain patients as drug seekers, wusses and malingerers based on stereotypical behaviors as innocuous as being overly polite or dressing too well for appointments, or showing up in the ER more than 3 times complaining of pain. Many of these doctors openly brag about medically blacklisting "drug seekers" and sabotaging their medical care.
This ignorance and hostility is not confined to anonymous doctor blogs, but also surfaces in the literature and in patient medical records. Pain patients are frequently stereotyped as drug addicts and drug seekers, and if you are ever unfortunate enough to have a doctor enter that particular accusation in your medical records, you can and most likely will be treated like a criminal from then on, and denied proper medical care. This kind of treatment of people with chronic pain is tacitly endorsed by medical societies that advocate that pain patients should be forced to sign coercive "contracts" with their doctors as a pre-condition of receiving treatment with opiate medications. These contracts treat you as a suspect in advance, requiring you to submit urinalysis samples on demand and some even go so far as requiring you to list friends and family members the doctor can interview to ensure you're not abusing your drugs.
The problem is that there are far too many arrogant, heartless individuals in the medical profession with narcissistic or right wing authoritarian personalities who are prone to reducing patients to cardboard cutouts and summarily dismissing them with a wave of their hand, and while these problems are surely worse for Blacks and other minorities, they are hardly confined to them.