The patient-physician relationship is a sacred one. As such, physicians are required to treat patients respectfully and keep their interests and needs in mind when deciding on the best course of treatment. This involves putting aside any judgements or pre-conceived notions that they may have. Unfortunately,despite what is currently taught in medical school curricula, certain physicians slip through the cracks and can have stereotypes about Black patients. This mindset adversely affects the quality of care that some Black patients receive.
To begin with, relative to White Americans, Black patients are systematically untreated for pain. An incorrect assessment of pain can cause the Black patients to receive no treatment or even die if physicians downplay their experiences. Physicians must consider both objective factors (eg. the medical test results) and subjective factors (eg. the patient’s assessment of symptoms and pain) when deciding a course of action for treatment. This racial bias is not just applicable to pain perception but stems from preconceived notions that Black patients have a biologically different body to that of a Caucasian person. This belief persists in science and medicine today
Additionally, Black women are 2-6 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy compared to White women in the United States. These racial differences are shocking.There is still extensive research being done to learn more about this alarming statistic and how to address this disparity. Although healthcare professionals are able to caution these patients on lifestyle factors, food intake, and other practices that can reduce the risk of mortality, there remains risk, which may be due to diminished quality of prenatal delivery or even satisfaction of care received at medical appointments.
Moreover, the patient-physician interaction may display decreased interpersonal trust between Black patients and physicians due to the discriminatory and racist past of the field of medicine. The Tuskegee study, wherein African American men were experimented on to observe the effects of untreated Syphilis on them, is one such element of the dark past of medicine. This led to death and the “mental, moral and physical deterioration of the black population.” There was also the case of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cervical tumour was biopsied without her consent in 1951. As a result of this neglect Lacks died 10 months later, was buried in an unmarked grave, and many scientists today are unaware of the contribution that her cells have made to present-day Science. These are just a few cases wherein physicians failed to respect the Hippocratic oath and brought more harm to their Black patients than good. This goes against the tenets of medical practice. It is also why there is so much distrust of physicians by Black patients in medicine which may still persist to this day for these patients.
It is important to remember Henrietta Lacks and other Black individuals who were experimented on, lost their lives, and were treated inhumanely in the course of getting to where we are today. In the present-day, although they have come far in terms of the ethics of medicine, physicians need more cultural sensitivity training as well as to check their biases and put aside any notions they may have about BIPOC patients. This will improve patient satisfaction and promote treatment adherence and thereby improve the quality of care these patients receive.