Racial Discrimination In The Medical Field

In the early 1960’s privately owned hospitals in North Carolina were allowed to discriminate against race as to whether to admit a patient to the hospital and/or grant privileges to African American doctors or dentists, as long as separate-but-equal facilities were provided. Dr. Simkins, an African American dentist, attempted to admit and treat a patient experiencing an abscessed tooth, ultimately being subjected to denial of privileges.

First of all, nurses have a very critical role of advocating for their patients regardless of race, ethnicity, and gender. Today the nurse would treat the African Americans and white patients equally. Nurses are a lot more educated now then they were back in the ‘50s and there is so much more research available to them to practice evidence based care. Today’s nurse would not proceed with a procedure unless a voluntary informed consent was signed prior to any invasive procedures with potential risks. If today’s nurse was given the opportunity to treat Henrietta Lacks, this patient would have been treated with holistic therapeutic care, great pain management, care that has evidence to back it up, and the nurse would have advocated for the consent form to be signed by the patient and care clearly and thoroughly explained to the patient prior to implementing the

According to the text, “several studies have shown that black patients were treated and hospitalized at later stages of their illness than white patients. And once hospitalized, they got fewer pain medications, and had higher mortality rates.” (Skloot 64). Even Though it was the time of segregation, the doctors were supposed to treat their patients equally. The author stated that many black patients were just glad to receive treatment at the time of discrimination.

Henrietta's ordeal in a racially segregated healthcare system illustrates how race, a social construct without biological basis but defined by physical characteristics and cultural heritage, critically influences health as it manifests discrimination and dictates access to resources, rights, and opportunities through embedded social significance and power dynamics (Etowa et al., 2007). The era of Jim Crow laws, as Henrietta's experiences highlight, was a period where racial segregation was legally enforced, embedding inequities into the foundation of healthcare institutions. Hospitals during this era not only turned away black individuals from white-only facilities but also provided them with inferior care in the institutions that did admit them (Skloot, 2010). This practice underscores a deliberate, institutionalized disregard for black

Through the perpetuating institutionalized and structure racism, Harriet A. Washington goes to explain the reason why African Americans continues to mistrust the healthcare system and its professionals. The book Medical Apartheid, reveals the dark history of medical experiments on African Americans from colonial times to the present. Washington verifies some of her research by introducing Eugenics,

On November 11th, 2004, NitroMed, a Massachusetts based pharmaceutical company published a study on the effects of a new drug called BiDil in treating heart failure among African Americans in the New England Journal of Medicine (Taylor 2049). Since announcing the study, NitroMed’s research has sparked controversy surrounding the ethical implications and scientific evidence of race-based medicine. This study marks a breakthrough in race-based drug treatments as the first pharmaceutical ever researched, endorsed and targeted for a

Like previously stated, there has been a vast history of racial issues particularly in the medical field. These issues have led to minorities, especially African Americans, to not trust medical professionals and procedures. A study found in the Archives of Internal Medicine gives shocking results by stating that “African Americans were far less trusting than whites of the medical establishment and medical researchers in particular. African Americans were 79.2 percent more likely to believe that someone like them would be used as a guinea pig without his or her consent” (Clark 118). There are many cases in the past which would make a minority feel neglected and like a “guinea pig”. For instance, Henrietta Lacks, the main character of Rebecca Skloot’s book, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Her doctors were shocked at the terrifying rate her tumor was growing (Skloot 117). Her cells were taken from her cervix and they were distributed world wide without her or her family’s consent. The distribution went on for years even after her death

To Kill A Mockingbird was published in the summer of 1960 and it could be considered one of the greatest novels created. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, wrote these novels because of many personal experiences influencing her. One being the Scottsboro Boys case where an African American was falsely accused of raping a white woman where he was sentenced to death. This influenced the racism and prejudice in this novel. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee created a character named Boo Radley to develop a theme in this novel. Boo, a man that was living in the shadows, thought to be a scary and harmful person but actually being very friendly, shy and innocent. In To Kill A Mockingbird,

There are vulnerable groups that have significant problems in the health care system, due to this population being made vulnerable because of their financial circumstances or place of residence, health, age, race, mental or physical state. Access to health care across different populations are the main reason for current disparities in the United States health care system. Moreover, with a large amount attention being given to racial disparities in health, the meaning of race has come under increased scientific examination. (Sondik, 1997) Consequently, race remains to be one of the most politically charged topics in American life, because it's linked to sociocultural element often has led to classifications that have been ambiguous and improperly

Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s “Unequal Treatment Report” in 2002, highlighting the startling but harsh truths behind these health care differences, there has been a renewed interest in understanding the sources of these inconsistencies, with any seeking to identify contributing factors in hopes of creating an effective solution in reducing or eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care

Being a minority in the United States has and will possibly always been a struggle. With the economy being in shams and minimum wage becoming career, minorities have multiple issues that society is unaware especially in health care. A large percent of minorities are the majority of workers of America, in which requires the most of the health care distribution. But are they receiving the proper access to health care and prescription access based on their ethnicity/race? Discrimination and racism continue to be a part of the unbalancing inequality in society and have adversely affected minority populations, and the health care system in general. Analyzing some of the racial disparities in health care among Americans are modifications in both need and access. Minorities are most likely to need health care but are less likely to receive health care services, including proper drug access.

Diversity means to value and respect the differences and individuality of people. This means to embrace the differences between people and to treat a person’s race, culture, religious beliefs, age, sexual orientation, gender, physical and mental characteristics etc. with respect.

In this paper, I will argue that the healthcare system has responsibility in taking care of the racism that is apparent in this system. First and foremost, the word “racism” must be defined in order to prevent confusion on the line of reasoning in this argument. According to Camara Jones’s framework that was developed to highlight how racism can lead to health disparities, there are two levels of racism that will be looked at: institutionalized racism and personally-mediated racism. Institutionalized racism, defined as “differential access to goods, services, and opportunities by race, includes differential access to health insurance”. What is significant to note is that institutional racism does not require personal bias commonly associated

A flat disc that has been used in magick for over thousands of years is the Pentacle. Most commonly engraved with the pentagram, which signifies the five elements: fire, air, earth, water and spirit, the pentacle is used as a protective talisman. However, in most Wiccan traditions it is seen as representative of the element of Earth, and can be used on the altar as a place to hold items that are going to be ritually consecrated. The pentacle itself can be made of any material, including brass, gold, silver, wood, wax and clay. The pentacle is an instrument of protection and a tool used for invocation. It is sometimes considered to be a portal between this world and the spirit world. Sometimes, it is hung above windows and doors due to its protective

In doing so, he pays particularly close attention to black patients and their relations with health care policies and practices. Smedly maintains that blacks are not only the victims of, inpatient and outpatient treatment, racial policies, and other services but also the victims of its consequences. He argues that many health care administrators are agents to a system of inequality that support provider and administrator biases, geographical inequalities, and racial stereotypes (Smedly 2012).