Black Patient; Why Do Doctors Feel The Need To Speak To Black Patients As If We're Morons?

Wednesday, 22 November 2023

By; TB Obwoge

As a person who's a constant patient, for one medical issue or another, I'm always amazed at how doctors belitling Black people when their patients.

I noticed when I was 17 years old that doctors spoke to me in a way that I thought was ‘weird’. I was in my doctor’s office being told that I had the sickle cell trait. He went on to explain if I had children with a man whom also had the trait that there was a chance that 1 in 4 of my children could be born with sickle cell.

Understood. Information computed. Got it! Over & out Roger! That’s it, you get it? I got it right when he said it and I shook my head, saying I understand. This doctor them takes out a piece of blank printing paper, draws a box, divided it into four boxes, he marks each box but the forth he places an X in to explain this would be the child born with Sickle cell anemia. When he was done I had lost all respect for this middle aged doctor. This was what I felt at the tender age of 17-years old.

Fast-forward I’ve had so many non-Black doctors speak to me as if I was that same seventeen year old child. I don’t speak the same, look the same & I’ve traveled the world. I don’t enjoy being spoken to this way and I find it always happens when it’s a doctor outside of my ‘race’. I'm almost 50-years old and in the United States of America that means nothing, it still means that I am going to get spoken to as if I'm a moron.

I went to my first medical oncology appointment for a discussion on this pill they wanted me to take for 5 years to “fight” the chances of my breast cancer returning. I already didn’t want to take this pill, I was prepared with many questions this doctor was Brazilian, she refused to let me speak.

She wanted to do a recap of everything I had been through so far, surgeries, set up for radiation oncology then moved onto this pill. Which she had already in her ‘mind’ decided was not for me, was too dangerous, would cause me more harm than good.

She wanted to ‘run down’ everything as if it was a recap of last weeks episode as I was awaiting the start of the episode I’ve been waiting a week for or because of covid it’s been more like 4 weeks.

Why? Did I look like I was lost? Did I need for you to open my records read out what I’ve experienced? No other doctor did this, the radiation oncologist hadn’t in his 45–50 minutes about his specialty radiation therapy

Afterwards she goes on to speak to me as If I was even slower than a child when I asked her about why people are prescribed the pill when it doesn’t lower your chances of reoccurrence the way surgery (removal) and radiation does.

Her reply was not to reply at all. After this awkward appointment she told me to come back in six months but Why? No, of course not I won’t be back you’re not treating me for anything. I went out handed the paper to the receptionist, she asked when I would like to come back to which I responded I don’t need to come back so I won’t.

I have recently within days had my second EMG test, the Indian doctor decideded to give me a speech about being overweight. He then thought it was his job to teach me about all the medical issues that run in my family and that I have been living with for years. He went through my medical history and decided to even preach to me about not taking my medication.

He didn't account for the fact that I hadn't lived in the United States for a few years either and couldn't get the same meds that I can get while in the US.

When I was diagnosed the surgeon warned me that I would need surgery and that she would be unable to spare my nipple in the process of removing the cancer. I asked her were there any other issues involved around losing a nipple, she replied while laughing “You’ll never be able to breast feed again!”

Long, slow blink again, I didn’t laugh even the student seated in the room next to me didn’t find the humor in that joke. I who had recently had a long term relationship with an African man that was 27 years old in the Army in his country.

Some people have gone as far as trying to seek out all Black medical providers which as you would know is very difficult to do, at one time my primary doctor, GYN and dermatologist were all Black women. Until the dermatologist had to relocate back to her home town to where her parents were living as they were aging & she needed to practice closer to them to care for them when she wasn’t working.

Then my primary doctor left the hospital because they refused to make any changes or progress in her 17 years with them. There we are with a system that finds no need to retain Black doctors at all to care for the dwindling 13–12% of the Black American population that is poorly underserved and terribly disrespected.

I had an Indian cardiologist at one point when I had an order to take a stress test for my heart I showed up for the test, he was not there that day so his fellow colleague was there another Indian man. This Doctor openly called all of Dr. Smith’s (my doctors real name) patients fat, saying that I was too fat to actually walk on the treadmill.

He went on to say that I was going to be injected with this medication to increase my heart rate instead of doing it naturally by walking on the treadmill, I asked for another doctor at that point.

Once he called me fat it was over yet to tell me you were not going to let me to the treadmill test? They tried to locate another doctor, they couldn’t, this doctor remained in the room, watched me walk the treadmill, I was injected, once I was done and told to wait 45 minutes he extended his hand with his mouth gaped open tried to shake my hand. I looked at his hand and refused to touch him, he walked from the room with a tech chasing him to sign the paperwork.

I once saw a doctor for my daughter her name was Dr. White, my daughter was an infant at the time, she held my child to weigh her as if my baby was a piece of filthy trash. Dr. White was almost repulsed looking at, touching, moving her onto the scale, the look on her face. The way she held my child far away from her body as if there was a putrid smell coming from this freshly washed baby powdered smelling, perfect infant, I was so disgusted that afterwards I reached for my baby immediately taking her, we never saw that doctor again.

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights as it tries to move international.

©️TB Obwoge 2023 All Rights Reserved