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 ...
Yep. And our choice of doctor should be our own personal choice. I don’t doubt that any American doctor should be potentially equally good, we pick the one we prefer. I pick a female doctor because I think they are more caring, maybe a male is as well. I don’t care. Now race, what a stupid reason to pick a doctor.
I actually had a white male doctor the other day (Mostly east Asians and Indians around here). It’s nice having someone with a similar culture to my own for a doc.
Always working to drive a wedge between them and white people. Most blacks don’t think this way but those that do are disgusting.
My wife who is not black has a great lady doctor who is black. I think taking the tribalism too far is not good for America.
Why is there a need for a particular color of doctor except for racism?
> micro-aggressions that can occur are deadly
So can being stupid you Effing moron. Go buy the doctor you want and STFU you lazy POS. Get off my tax dollars you filthy scum.
Too bad that Gosnell is predisposed.
>”Being a black female who is overweight automatically puts you in a diabetic category,” she says.
Get off your lazy butt, work for a living and quit thinking we that work for a living owe you anything. Wasted human flesh should have been educated instead of pampered.
I would have never guessed that.
meh
Reasons for bad health
I pay $500 a month for insurance 7 levels below a welfare person because I earn a living.
I can see fixing broken bones, some pills and bandaids for those that pay NOTHING, but unless old, I do not think people out of work more than 3 months deserve free quality healthcare in general on the back of my 300% overcharged insurance policy.
If you believe so strongly that you should have a black doctor, because you are black, then why don’t you go to medical school and become a black doctor?
I’m tired of the whining. They should kiss the ground every morning and thank heavens their ancestors were loading on those ships. They are, by far, the best-off blacks in the whole world.
Her new BBFDF will not sympathize, focus instead on Sunday’s with Big Mamma and miss the actual diabetic diagnosis resulting in her early deaf.
Ironic.
I had a pretty limited selection in my HMO. First I chose an American doctor educated at UCLA who was a complete jerk and a health Nazi who thought his job was to dictate patients lifestyle, and our job was to do what he wanted. He never looked up from making notes on his laptop the whole time he talked to me. The worst doctor I ever saw. I want a doctor who will explain my condition and options and let me chose. So after my second appointment I picked a new PCP. Now I go to a clinic with all Russian female staff. They’re knowledgeable, explain what’s going on, listen to me, and let me choose. They all speak English well for a second language, and I don’t mind the Russian accenta. All in all I’m pretty happy.
It’s hard for many docs to look past statistics. I was having very real issues and went to my doctor twice and another doctor once. Each time I heard this,”Well, you do have four young children, here’s a prescription for xanax.” So I gave up, threw away the pills after a couple of days and tried to manage the racing heart waking me up at night, frequent migraines, a brain that struggled to focus and bring order, constant edginess, etc.
Had a couple more kids and turned 40, went for a physical with a new doc, first non OB check in almost 10 years. At 40 this doctor routinely checks the thyroid of female patients. Turns out I have Graves Disease-probably had it the whole time. I was miserable for most of my older kids’ lives. Could have been a much better mom (to at least one more son who died in the womb) and wife with a proper diagnosis and treatment.
Ding - ding - ding! We have a winner!
And I will add that taking the time to listen is part of being compassionate. Let's be realistic; the vast majority of physicians are not going to be black. There is also a fair percentage of docs who are arrogant pricks. They know everything and you know nothing. The likelihood of a black patient getting condescending treatment from a white doc is probably rather high.
It is a compassion issue, not a race issue.
I was misdiagnosed for 8 years by a string of white and Asian doctors. I am white.
I’m sure it was a racial thing. /s
I guess I should have tried a black female doctor.
Doctors tried to tell my husband that his Neuropathy must be from diabetes. When his sugar numbers refused to move out of the normal range they switched to "pre-diabetes". Finally found a doctor who specialized in Neurologist. She looked at his chart and snorted, "nonsense, there is no way that your problems are caused by diabetes. You don't have it." When we asked about "pre-diabetes" she said that either you had it or you didn't and he didn't.
When we asked her what was causing the problem she answered frankly that she didn't know but she would try to find out.
You don't like hearing your doctor say she does not know but it was better then the doctors that kept trying to shove him into a box where he didn't belong.
My doc is black and female short and fluffy. I love her.
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