In part two of Black Man in a White Coat, Tweedy addresses both patients discriminating against black doctors and doctors discriminating against black patients. To do this, he provides us with two examples, both of which are his own personal experiences. The first story shows discrimination against black doctors. Tweedy shares the story of a patient that took one look at him and asked for a “real doctor”, this patient knew absolutely nothing about Tweedy’s credentials. He did not know where he graduated from, what medical school he attended, what previous experience he had, who he was as a person, etc. This patient did not know a single thing about Tweedy other than the fact that he was black, but that was enough for this patient to decide that he wasn’t a “real doctor.” This was something that really struck me, as I grew up in a very open-minded, equal-opportunity family. I would never even so much as think that a doctor was not a good physician based on their race, let alone say that to them, which I find to be extremely disrespectful. In the following chapter, Tweedy goes on to tell a story where doctors discriminated against a patient, which I found almost equally as disrespectful. All this patient requested was that his doctors give him time to make lifestyle changes to lower his blood pressure, as a pose to taking another medication, since he had already agreed to take all of the other recommendations that the doctors made. I believe that had he been a white patient, the doctors would have initially honored his request, and trusted that he knew how to handle his medical problem. This patient was not being rude, or disrespectful, he just simply did not want to take an unnecessary medication. Then, after leaving the patient, the doctors go on to chat with each other about how he must have a psychiatric disorder - just because he would’ve rather made lifestyle changes instead of taking another medication. This would have never been a scene had the patient been a white American.
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