The Medical Field Of Medicine

The relationship between black patients and doctors has always been strained by the injustice done by doctors in history. One such example stated in the book is the Tuskegee syphilis studies: They recruited hundreds of African-American men with syphilis, then watched them die slow, painful, preventable deaths, even after they realized penicillin could cure them. …

There was also a lot of laws also known as jim crow laws. These laws were acted to “keep people in their place” and there intensions were to be separate but equal. In the article “Jim Crow Laws Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site” One law that seems fine today wasn't back then, you couldn’t marry someone with a different race, just because of the color on their skin and if you do so the marriage will be voided and illegal. Some of the laws were so silly and outrageous rules like African American amature baseball players had to be within two blocks away from each other. That law was so outrageous because all they want to do is have fun and do what they love but they have to remember to be be two blocks away from them. Manners is very important to the south, you would always say yes sir or mam. African American people especially had to speak a certain way which was called Jim Crow Etiquette. For example they had to call white males Boss or Master. Which was extremely unfair because they were called rude names like Boy and old man instead of being called something that means you're the boss or your master or you have a higher stature. It was the same for woman too they didn't have a good name like miss or Mrs they were called auntie or girl. You can definitely tell a difference how white or african american people were treated and talked

Black or Negro doctors were not common in America during the first half of the century: 500, or about 2.6%, of New York City’s 19,000 physicians were Negro in 1963 (Curtis 64). New York City and Chicago are major cities in the United States, they also are similar when it came to population. It is to say that since New York City only had a few Black Physicians during the time then Chicago reflected the same range of numbers when it came to their black physicians. In fact, African-Americans had only made up “3% of all professional workers in [New York City] in 1950”(Curtis 64). African American women were allowed to work in the medical professions but they were mostly limited to the nursing

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.

The patient has no family history of heart disease or diabetes, however both her parents are on medication for high blood pressure. Her paternal grandmother died of breast cancer at age 47. Her maternal grandmother

Throughout the 1960’s medical health care was not as advanced and thorough like it is today. During the 1900’s, families were not as informed of their medical records than today due to a breakthrough in medical technology (Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks). In past years, hospital experience turned out to be quite lengthy stays for some people and had given a redundant insult with no respect to a patient. Some people had not been as beneficial as white people have. These problems should not even exist, it is just physical discrimination against people of different color.

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

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,

They were made to use separate facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and waiting rooms. Blacks were prevented from renting land outside of the towns. They were forbidden to go anywhere they wanted. They were prevented from marrying any one outside of their race.

About ten years before the civil rights movement which fought that “Separate but Equal” wasn't all that equal. Johns Hopkins hospital was placed in the middle of urban Baltimore, Maryland. For the purpose to create an environment that could help African Americans receive medical attention even if they couldn't afford it. Many people believe that the hospital was put there to “…benefit scientist- to give them potential research subjects” (Skloot 166). The hospital had a separate but equal policy like many establishments at that time.

Between early June 1951 and Henrietta’s death on October 4, 1951, doctors involved in her treatment would continue to violate ethics code. Henrietta complained of discomfort in early June that morphed into pain. During the 1950s, segregation was still occurring in the country (Skloot, 2010, p. 63). Therefore, it was common for black patients to not question white professionals (Skloot, 2010, p. 63). It was also common practice for doctors to withhold information from patients so they would not be upset or confused by medical terms such as cancer (Skloot, 2010, p. 63). Within two months, the pain was so severe she could be heard screaming a block away from her home (Skloot, 2010, p. 65). By the time doctors examined her properly, she was inoperable and a “stony hard mass” (Skloot, 2010, p. 64) could be felt on her abdomen. The doctors during previous follow up visits wrote notes about her complaints but still stated no evidence of reoccurrence. Therefore, these unnamed doctors did not demonstrate appropriate professionalism because they neglected to perform a thorough exam required to give Henrietta a proper diagnosis breaching codes: 1.04 integrity, 1.07a exploitative relationship, 2.09 treatment/intervention

As years progressed, blacks and whites started to come in contact with each other by sharing bathrooms and homes. After a while people had started to get frustrated about this situation because both races had

Black men had to be careful with women. They couldn't look at women in the eye or whistle at them because they would get hanged. There was an assault in Rosewood a black man got into a White House and assaulted a woman she wasn't hurt badly. Then the white women husband started a riot with white men to go and kill all black people that they see. The riot started to burn down the buildings that are owed by the black people. There was one women that ran out of a burning building was shot in the jaw and took it right off. People didn't want to go outside to the riot so they hid under the burning buildings. A group of blacks were barracked in a building while the whites were firing rounds after rounds in the building. To this day no one knows

While today’s “patients [have] one thing going for them that Henrietta didn't: They [are] alive. And the dead have no right to privacy-even if part of them is still alive,” (Skloot 211) history’s ethical debate regarding medical racism remains a social issue. When patients experience racism, they may be unable to defend themselves if they are incapacitated by medical professionals. Due to patient negligence and bias, the health care provider’s poor treatment breaks the trust of minorities. As shown in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and treatment of Henrietta Lacks, doctors and researchers have failed to inform the participants correctly. Both occurrences highlight medical racism because of the historical maltreatment of minority groups. Now, many

Black children were not allowed to attend the same schools as white children, blacks were not allowed to stay in the same hotels as whites, not to go to the same theatres, not to eat in the same restaurants, not to use