ENG102 Research Paper
It is time to put it all together. Use the MEAL paragraph structure format to move your Sentence Outline into paragraphs. Please revisit the MEAL paragraph structure. Be sure to include a thesis that is clear, concise, specific and arguable. If you don't have a thesis, I cannot grade your outline. Everything in your paper is predicated upon your thesis.
How Medical Racism Negatively Affects Patients
Everyday, many vulnerable patients are at the hands of doctors and the medical system. For some patients, they are at a much higher risk simply due to their skin color. Despite the US being known for being wealthy and having excellent healthcare, it is not the case for many. The system is corrupt and it puts minority patients in danger. Racism is tied into the structure of racism. Some providers are outright racist. Access to proper care is especially difficult for Hispanic, Black, and Native American populations. Medical racism- both from providers and stemming from within the system, causes a higher rate of illness and death for minorities, creates barriers to accessing proper medical care, and many patients do not feel comfortable returning for future care, even if with a different provider or facility.
Medical racism has led to higher rates of illness for minorities. It has been found that racial minority patients are more likely to suffer from a myriad of different illnesses. More black patients have high blood pressure compared to white patients. Black adults are 28% more likely to have a chronic illness. Hispanic patients have also been found to be more likely to have a chronic illness. Native Americans face the highest alcohol addiction rates compared to any other racial group. Asian Americans were found to be underdiagnosed; when they did have alcohol addiction, they were not properly diagnosed and treated (Rees). Higher rates of Black children compared to white children have asthma, and higher rates of Black adults are overweight compared to white patients. Native American adults are twice as likely as a white adult to have HIV and they are three times more likely to have diabetes. Hispanic patients are more likely to have diabetes, cervical cancer, and are much more likely to have attempted suicide (Carratala and Maxwell). Williams and Rucker state that while patients no longer face blatant racism, a more subtle laissez faire racism is present. This laissez faire racism they speak of is what is affecting patients so negatively. While we cannot see the racism itself, we can see the effects of it in higher illness and death rates for racial minorities. It is caused by a mixture of things; implicit discrimination by providers, health services not being available in convenient locations for minorities, economic status of patients, lack of insurance coverage, and patients feeling mistrust in the system.
Black, Hispanic, and Native American patients have much higher death rates than their white counterparts. Black patients have the highest mortality rate for all cancers. They have the highest infant mortality rate at 11 deaths per 1000 live births. The leading causes of death for Pacific Islanders are cancer, heart disease, accidents, stroke, and diabetes. Cancer, heart disease, and accidents are also among leading causes of death for Native Americans (Carratala and Maxwell). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black patients were 3.57 times more likely to die from it than white patients. Hispanic patients were twice as likely to die. Black adults, on average, have shorter life expectancies compared to other races. Black mothers are 3-4 times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications (Rees). These statistics show the problem with the care being provided to minorities. It shows us that better preventive measures, better treatment from doctors, and better access to medical services are needed to improve the health and well-being of racial minorities.
There are many structural barriers which pose a problem towards minority patients seeking care. In predominantly Black zip codes, it is 67% more likely that there is a shortage of primary care physicians. Around 20% of Black adults and 35% of Hispanic adults have no form of health insurance. Rees goes on to state that emergency departments are less likely to classify Black and Hispanic children as needing emergent care, less likely to admit them to the hospital when necessary, and less likely to order sufficient tests such as CTs, blood draws, and x-rays. Many medical students have been found to have the false belief that Black patients have a higher pain tolerance or less nerve endings; therefore, requiring less pain medication. This is not true. This is a good example of what is ingrained in the structure of the medical system and is taught to students who don't know any better otherwise. Unfortunately, many will go on believing this throughout their career. Taylor explains that part of the issue with healthcare access is that Medicaid has not expanded through many parts of the south. These states which do not offer Medicaid are many of the states where it is very needed. 58% of African Americans live in the south, meaning that a large portion of their population is in an area which is more difficult to access healthcare services. Taylor states the same as Rees, saying that Black and Hispanic populations have a primary physician shortage. Physicians in Black and Hispanic zip codes provide lower quality care. Taylor goes on to add that due to this, they often wait until care is emergent and they seek out the emergency department or urgent care. There is also a shortage of Black physicians. When providers can relate to their patients, they provide better care, and are more culturally competent. 13% of medical residents are Black and only 5% of physicians in the United States are Black (Martindale). Ultimately, there are a lot of structural factors going against patients of color, especially when they are low income. It can be very difficult to schedule an appointment with a provider who first of all has limited availability; and who also is unlikely to be nearby or have evening appointments. When patients are financially struggling, they cannot afford to miss work and not get paid so they can go to an appointment they are going to have to pay for. The distance away can also be a financial struggle. Already having financial struggles, having limited access to insurance, and limited access to physicians creates a major struggle. Patients also deal with structurally racist care, which makes them less likely to return.
Patients are treated in a racist manner by their physicians, leading to them not feeling comfortable returning. This in turn can cause patients to not seek care when necessary, leading to them going to the emergency room when it becomes urgent. Patients feel frustrated about medical racism. They will actively avoid seeking care if they are afraid they are going to encounter racism. These patients feel mistrust in the system and the providers. Black women have said that they felt they had to dress up, initiate asking questions, and do research ahead of time in order to appear knowledgeable and be taken seriously by their doctors (Hamed et al.). It is unfortunate that patients feel they must do extra work to impress their doctors just so they can be taken seriously. While racism coming from doctors is usually implicit, it still harms them. Small comments can make a patient feel hurt and ignored, which can lead to them not wanting to return. Studies have shown that doctors tend to stereotype their minority patients. They view Black men as being uneducated and Asians as being irrational. When it comes to triage in the emergency room, white patients tend to be favored. This leads to longer wait times for racial minorities. Several other studies have also shown that providers favor white patients and in time of burnout, will place white patients on a higher priority (Hamed et al.). The way that providers view their patients, implicit or not- is dangerous. It causes major barriers to care access and makes patients feel that they are not being taken care of when they should be.
High rates of illness and death, structural dynamics, and uncaring providers are a result of medical racism and have led to major distrust in the system from minorities. If these patients are even able to access care, they may not want to return due to past mistreatment. All patients have a right to receiving high quality care; whether they receive that or not should not depend on their race. There is still much work to be done to ensure that racial minorities can access competent and caring providers. They should not have to worry about not being given pain meds, being taken seriously, dressing up, or dying from an illness a white patient would be much less likely to die from. Ultimately, when patients are at their most vulnerable- it is the job of the system and the providers to protect them and provide them with appropriate care, no matter the color of their skin.
PS- Some of this formatting is a little funky but it looks good in my word document :)