As an African American woman in the healthcare industry, I have been a patient that has been discriminated against.
I would like to share a story that illustrates the issue of racism in healthcare.
A black doctor went to a clinic to treat a patient. The first thing he did was to give him a free shot of an antibiotic.
I remember being angry when I heard that. I found out later that no one had told him that he had to pay for that shot. I decided to write a public letter to the clinic’s CEO, requesting an apology.
The CEO of one of the clinics apologized, but also said that the clinic had “gone through a lot of racism in the past”. The CEO of the other clinic defended the clinic that gave the patient the antibiotic, saying that the “lack of information” led to the decision to give him the shot. The CEO of the clinic that didn’t give the shot said that he doesn’t believe this racism thing is true, because no one had told him that he has to pay for it.
The CEO of the clinic that gave the antibiotic defended his decision, saying that it wasnt as if the patient was racist, because the entire process was completely fair. The CEO of the other clinic defended his decision, saying that the patient should have been told that the antibiotic didnt work, and that his decision to give the antibiotic was the right one.
Heres a little story about how that’s a bit different…
The CEO of the first clinic said that the patient should have been told that the antibiotic didnt work, and that his decision to give the antibiotic was the right one. He said he didnt think the patient was racist because the entire process was completely fair. The CEO of the second clinic defended his decision, saying that the patient should have been told that the antibiotic didnt work, and that his decision to give the antibiotic was the right one.
I think the problem is that we don’t take the “right” decisions seriously when we think they’re “right,” and that’s because most of the time we’re just not aware of the details. To illustrate the point, we have a recent example of this that might come as a surprise to many readers. In the early 2000s, I worked in a hospital in upstate New York, as a nurse anesthetist.
In this case, the patient was given inappropriate antibiotics for a sore throat. It was the wrong choice, and this patient was treated for the wrong reason. The patient’s mother had to step in and find a more appropriate way to treat the patient. This wasn’t a racist thing. This was a medical thing. The patient was not racist. He was just ignorant.