Posted on 01/03/2017 7:11:01 PM PST by bkopto
Washington, DC-based school administrator Akela Stanfield is quite familiar with that distrust. She spent a year being stereotyped by and receiving few answers from a string of doctors while trying to get to the bottom of the discomfort she'd been experiencing.
"Being a black female who is overweight automatically puts you in a diabetic category," she says. "They kept telling me I was 'pre-diabetic,' and I took way too many glucose tests. They were hunting for diabetes. I used to hate itthey would focus on it so much when I simply did not have diabetes."
These stressful dealings with white male doctors made appointmentsnone of which resulted in a successful diagnosisa source of dread. But her outlook on healthcare changed during an appointment for the same ongoing issues when her primary doctor was unavailable, causing a life-changing encounter with a black female doctor who was filling in.
"That was the most enlightening 60 minutes of my life," Stanfield says.
SNIP
Even with extensive studies on racial bias and America's troubled past with black folks and medical treatment, the difference often boils down to the comfort of knowing your doctor understands the uniqueness, importance, and nuances of your culture and lived experiences.
"Any time you don't have to explain the subtleties of your world, your comfort increases. It doesn't seem as strange to explain to your fellow black American doctor why it's hard to stick to your new cardiac diet when Big Mama is inviting you to Sunday dinner," Creighton says of the comfort that comes with familiarity. "And the micro-aggressions that can occur are deadly to building rapport and trust, the same way it is in any working relationship."
(Excerpt) Read more at tonic.vice.com ...
So the justification for obesity is “Big Mama invited me to Sunday dinner” and it is a microagression to suggest a change be made.
Yet another reason medical care should hurt a person’s wallet - if you are not investing in yourself you end up living a deteriorating lifestyle waiting for a magic pill.
there is truth to this article. I have two adopted black daughters who had the same constellations of symptoms. They had PCOS but did not exhibit the primary physical symptom known to white doctors THEY DIDNT GROW FACIAL HAIR.
No physician we saw ever thought about the fact that many blacks don’t grow facial hair. And if there are not many follicles on the face there would be no hair.
the girls were misdiagnosed for years.
I just knew it ...
The STD questools may be a state and/or Fed requirement. I got a gun question once. Got a ration when I refused to answer, then found a different doc.
Yeah and with the price of labor in India, we could all probably have 3 nurses round the clock.
And no medical-legal climate like here, or all the charges for high technology, NICUs, etc.
Wonder where she would rather be when things go bad with a delivery?
She may have been in a private pay hospital there - I had heard if someone goes in to a poor hospital for an illness or surgery, the family has to provide the bedside care AND pay for supplies or bring them with!
Perhaps she would prefer checking a chicken’s guts to see if there is anything wrong with her. In her case they’d need a fat chicken to be more accurate.
The medical profession does put people into disease boxes. A friend of mine had a chronic cough and they told her it was caused by her intake of second hand smoke. Nothing could be done.
She was visiting us over the holidays and it sounded and acted like and allergy to me. I gave her some Claritin and her cough stopped after three days.
Yeah, because no white guy ever has had family pressure to eat too much. But the bottom line - the Big Bottom line - is that excuses won't heal you. This white male doesn't enjoy dieting, especially during holidays - but I do it. Or else. Welcome to something called "LIFE"!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.