Racism Is Bad for Health

[jettakd]

By Fabiana Frayssinet

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 14 2012 (IPS) - If a black woman and a white woman both need emergency obstetric care, a Brazilian doctor will assist the white woman because of the stereotype that black women are better at handling pain and are used to giving birth.

Because of cultural and social conventions in Brazil “blacks are seen

Comments

[romp]

fuck

[fickery]

:( From the post title, I thought it was going to be about how racists tended to have more rage strokes and heart attacks and stuff. Dammit.

[anolinde]

That's what I thought as well, lol.

[pistol_eyes]

lol me too

[amber_protocol]

Yeah, me too.

[natyanayaki]

I know that this particular story focuses on Brazil, but this occurs everywhere in some form and it's extremely disturbing. We talked about these sort of trends in several of my PH classes (in the USA). UGH! It should be considered a violation of the Hippocratic oath...

[pleasure_past]

I was just going to say that sadly this doesn't just happen in Brazil. I can't believe it's not considered a violation of the Hippocratic Oath and something that we aren't way more concerned about.

[natyanayaki]

I guess they could say that they weren't neglecting a patient, but prioritizing who they thought was in worse shape? UGH! It's just another reason why universal healthcare is so important, hospitals de-staff ERs etc because so often they have to cover costs of unpaid emergencies...then ERs are understaffed and not everyone can be treated. It's just SO SAD!

I'm really happy that the doctors I know literally put their patients first (or close to it if they have children). I know one physician who'd been admitted into the ER and then the hospital for 10 days (couldn't figure out what was wrong with him), and when he was able to move around, he was literally checking up on his patients in the hospital (he also often gives his patients whatever cash he has in his wallet to help with medication costs, and at times paid phone bills etc).. More doctors need to be like that.

[window_girl]

Oh...oh my.

This is awful. This is terrible, awful, inhumane...

Well, at least you answered my question as to if it happens everywhere, not just in the country mentioned in the article.