Racism may not be obvious, but it can present itself in very subtle ways. CNN has a story titled, "Does your doctor judge you based on your color?"
I'd hate to think that doctors are racist, but the title implies exactly that point. Are doctors racist? Here's a quote from the story:
Reid, who is African-American (and who also has diabetes), firmly believes that if he'd been a white man, the junior doctor wouldn't have been so quick to order the cheaper and more drastic solution over his objections... Reid says he thinks the young doctor assumed he wasn't smart enough to think through a medical decision.CNN contacted the hospital but Montefiore Medical Center refused to discuss his case.
"It's absolutely proven through studies that a black man and a white man going to the hospital with the same complaint will be treated differently," Dr. Neil Calman, a family physician and president of the Institute for Family Health in New York, said. Where's the proof, right?
- A 2005 study found African-American cardiac patients were less likely than whites to receive a lifesaving procedure called revascularization, where doctors restore the flow of oxygen to the heart.
- A 2007 study involving clinical case vignettes found that doctors were more likely to recommend lifesaving drugs when they thought the patient was white than when they thought the patient was black.
