Robinson1

De’Ja Robinson
Take Two
Professor Buck
12/8/18

More Diverse Doctors

history
For many years African Americans have had a tough time in this world. It all started

when African Americans were stolen from Africa and brought over to the “New World” as

slaves. From that time on people thought African Americans were tough enough to handle

anything. They didn’t care about the sickness and the conditions of the slaves, they were treated

and looked at like wild animals. But the reason they chose African Americans to become their

slaves was because they could handle being exposed to the diseases that the Whites brought to

America unlike the Native Americans. From that moment on African Americans always had

higher rates for heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes,

HIV/AIDS and miscarriages than any other races. The usual explanations for these health

disparities are poverty, poor access to medical care and unhealthy lifestyle choices.

introduction
After several reports from African American people stating they weren’t treated fairly,

and how they almost died, they still haven’t changed. But a celebrity named Serena Williams

recently spoke up about her experience of not being treated fair, and you would think being she

has a higher status they would provide better procedures. But after Serena Williams gave birth,

she was having complications. She told the nurse and doctor, but they thought it was the

medication talking for her when Serena told them what she needed. Because after all she knows
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her body well enough and she has had health issues in the past. Instead they did the total opposite

and that caused her to rupture her c-section wound and she couldn’t breathe. When they finally

listened to her, they found out that she had several small blood clots in her lungs. Serena could

have died if they didn’t do anything fast enough. Although Serena is still alive and is doing well,

there are many other people that aren’t as lucky as she.

Inequality in the healthcare field is killing African Americans. African Americans aren’t

given the same opportunities as many other races. This is a major problem in the world that isn’t

talked about enough. There should be more doctors of each ethnic group. However, America

needs more African America doctors. Because most black people trust someone in their race

more, most doctors aren’t learning about the different cultures within ethnic minority groups,

some doctors aren’t comfortable treating black patients, and it would enhance the field overall.

According to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s David Williams studies

showed that many people of color would prefer a doctor that is the same race because people

would have access to more providers that can culturally connect with them, and who understand

their lives and their challenges as much as their clinical needs. Having doctors with cultural

competence would have a major impacted on their patient’s health. People would now want to go

to the doctors knowing they would be treated well. The patients would get the proper treatment

and they would feel safe enough to share things like they are supposed to. Doctors would more

than likely understand their problems meaning that the doctors wouldn’t think the patients are

exaggerating.

Damon Tweedy from The New York times says that the reason most black patients,

compared with those of other races, tend to be far less trusting of physicians and their medical

advice. However, most black patients have either refused or delayed needed treatments because
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they skeptical about their physician’s honesty or motives. Due to the patient mistrusting the

doctors they wound up sicker than they should have been or died. Much of that is rooted from a

dark history of experimentation on black people without their consent. Also known as the

Tuskegee Syphilis experiments where the U.S. Public Health Service did experiments on 600

black men that had syphilis 201 black men free of the disease. The men were told that were

being treated for their disease but in reality, they weren’t given the proper care so most of the

men die. A patient’s relationship with his or her provider is very important.

When it comes to the doctors training, they aren’t learning about the different cultures

within ethnic minority groups. Studies have shown that doctors in training aren’t learning the

major important things about other cultures. Therefore, that isn’t a good thing because then they

will have a picture already in their mind on how other cultures operate. Its be said by Harvard

T.H. Chan school of public health that students in medical school were given a survey and they

had to find out who was more in pain. And basically, they believe the black patient was

exaggerating their situation. That mean that some doctors will already go into their practice with

a certain mindset and not really believing their patient if they are black.

However, lack of cultural diversity in healthcare is really harming people.

Often some doctors are uncomfortable treating black patients, with everything happening

in this world, there’s a sense of neither side feeling comfortable. In todays society with all the

police shootings there’s an added sense of fear or threat in how people see us. This is not always

the case, but someone could be meaningful and still not get the correct treatment or get what they

need. Majority of the time if you don’t feel comfortable around someone you would leave. But

since it’s a doctor job to help you as a medical professional your first instinct might be to fall

back on your medical knowledge. However, a doctor might feel as though he is helping the
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person the best way they can in their minds, but not realizing that they’re further alienating them

because you’re coming off more distant.

In such a diverse modern age, you would think it’s hard to believe we still struggle to

achieve cultural competence. The only way to provide great care to patients of all backgrounds is

educate ourselves on different cultures and health issue, both through exposure and training. And

make sure the student population reflects the diversity of the population. As an African

American young lady in America I would love to see more diverse doctors. I want to everyone in

this world have an equal opportunity and make a change in our health rates.

According to the American Medical Student Association, Racial and ethnic minorities

comprise 26% of the total population of the United States, yet only roughly 6% of practicing

physicians are Latino, African American and Native American

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Works Cited
Williams, Joseph P. “Q&A: Duke University's Dr. Damon Tweedy on Racial Bias in Health
Care.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 31 Aug. 2018,
www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-08-31/why-america-needs-more-
black-doctors.
Tweedy, Damon. “The Case for Black Doctors.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15
May 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/the-case-for-black-doctors.html.
Byrd, Ayana. “STUDY: Increasing Number of Black Doctors Could Save Black Men's Lives.”
Colorlines, 10 Sept. 2018, www.colorlines.com/articles/study-increasing-number-black-doctors-
could-save-black-mens-lives.
Siddiqui, Aayesha. “Why We Need More Minority Doctors.” WBUR, WBUR, 9 Feb. 2012,
www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2012/02/09/minority-doctors-diversity.
Riddle, J. S. (2002, May 31). The state of black health: Where do we stand? HealthQuest, , 10.
Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/200072250?accountid=13626
“Tuskegee Study - Timeline - CDC - NCHHSTP.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm.