Posted on 11/15/2008 7:56:41 PM PST by neverdem
Doctor and Patient
Last Tuesday, like most of the country, I stayed up too late watching the election results come in and then became emotional when it was clear that Barack Obama, an African-American, was going to be our next president. Wednesday morning’s New York Times captured the most salient part of the moment for me in its headlines: “Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory.”
But a few days later, as I thought more about racial barriers, I started to question my election euphoria. In politics, the racial barriers might have fallen, I thought, but what about in health care?
There is no question that racial barriers still exist in many parts of this society. The first time I remember having a frank conversation about racial barriers in medicine was during my residency.
Of all the surgical residents I trained with, “Eric” was easily one of the smartest. He possessed a great bedside manner, brilliant clinical skills and plenty of that Obama cool. Eric was African-American, and one night, when we were both on call together, he told me something I have never forgotten.
“You know, Pauline,” he said, “there are a lot of times when I go to a patient’s room for the first time and they ask me, 'Are you transport? Are you here to wheel me to radiology?’” I can remember Eric shaking his head as he spoke. “They never assume I’m one of the doctors.”
Most of the research over the last 30 years has focused on the racial inequalities that affect patients; and the findings have been dismal. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine published a report that cited multiple examples of disparities across a wide range of health care and disease settings. African-Americans, for instance, were more likely to undergo less desirable procedures like...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I don’t assume they’re all the product of affirmative action, I just don’t have any way of knowing (absent the personal recommendation I mentioned) which are which beforehand. I’m a conservative so I’m not a racist. I assume minorities are qualified in the same proportion as anyone else and would do fine without affirmative action. It’s just that the admissions people are so eager to discriminate against whites and especially asians that I’d think the least promising get filtered out.
Can I ask you, in all seriousness, why you doubt his American-ness even on his mother’s side? What exactly about the Dunhams from Kansas is not sufficiently American for you?
Amen! If I were to see a black MD --male or (especially a)female-- walk in I'd think "Uh-oh..."
It's not the skin color. It's Affirmative Action and its 25+ years track record.
Really? Well, maybe, just maybe the fault lies with you. You know the old saying, "Clothes make the man." Try showing up in good quality, conservative cut and color slacks and shoes, a white shirt, dark tie, lab coat, and stethoscope around your neck.Maybe you're mistaken for an orderly b/c you look (and act?) like one.
Perhaps the part about being Communist sympathizers is a problem.
Just a guess.
Speaking for myself - his mother acted like she hated America. She only used it as a cash cow to fund her irresponsible life.
And no, the Dunhams may have been born in Kansas, but they weren’t ‘from’ Kansas.
Manifestly, this process does NOT work in politics: as evidenced by both halves of the Dem ticket and the top of the GOP ticket.
yes, and i usually do the requested task with a smile as well.
Lack of birth certificate.
He was raised for quite a while in Indonesia.
He may be African and he may be American, but he is not African-American in the sense that your average born and raised in the US black is.
He’s merely a figurehead so that people can feel good about having elected the first African-American president.
Ben Carson is a better example.
Lots of people like to go for a cut above the minimum competency to pass various board and licensing tests. Affirmative action completely scrambles the ability to recognize such ‘cut above’ AA or Hispanic professionals according to the school they attended, because they are too likely to have been admitted on a drastically lower standard. Unfortunate, but true.
Ah, I didn’t realize there were so many caveats to being “American”. I’d better check my genealogy and make sure no close relative ever lived abroad for a period, had “Communist sympathies” or was born somewhere like Kansas but not really “from” Kansas (whatever that means).
I’ll submit the info here and maybe you can all form a 3 member jury and let me know if my family is sufficiently “American” for you.
You might check on basic English as well. I was born IN Minnesota, and moved from there very young. I know nothing of Minnesota other than what I’ve read in a book. My values and beliefs have not in any way been based in Minnesota.
I was BORN there, but am not FROM there.
No charge for the lesson...
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