By Boris Pavlov, Year 11
Unfortunately, misdiagnoses and lack of care in hospitals account for 250,000 deaths in the USA alone. However, recent studies have uncovered a more troubling factor: that women and people of colour are more likely to experience discrimination or lack of proper care when seeking medical attention.
Going to the doctor’s is often an asymmetric situation. People automatically listen to professionals who are experts in their field. Therefore, the fact that cases of patients either having their concerns unaddressed, treatment options not offered, or errors not being fixed seem to occur more regularly to black people in the US is truly worrying.
For example, a woman named Whitney recalled how she was dismissed with an elevated heart rate after giving birth. The only tests she underwent were CT scans which revealed nothing. Although she repeatedly asked her doctor if it could be a case of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), several doctors dismissed it despite present symptoms. It wasn’t until she changed hospitals that it was discovered she actually did have PPCM.
Stories like these could happen to anyone; no one can control the accuracy of a doctor. However, after sharing her story online, she discovered that although many black women had experienced similar situations, it wasn’t a common occurrence for white women. This poses the question as to how much has racism has affected both doctors and their patients.
The fact that this is also seen in the treatments recommended or offered to people of colour shows that it does to quite an extent. However, it turns out that not only racism is a common case of discrimination in hospitals. Recently, it has become clear that women are more likely to not be trusted when seeking medical help.
Reports have shown that after having described the same abdominal pains, women wait 65 minutes before being treated, and are then given little treatment. Men have to wait 49 minutes on average and are usually given more pain-relieving drugs. The persistence of cases like these reveals the sexist belief that women are more emotional and that as such they are more sensitive.
Overall, the fact that cases such as these are so prevalent in 2019 is not only disgusting but frankly unbelievable. In a field that controls people’s wellbeing and is often trusted with little question, such disregard for patient’s health is something that sorely needs to be addressed.
