Tweedy Part II

In the second part of "Black Man in a White Coat" Tweedy is faced with a rather difficult patient. The patient is one of his own color but, one that does not trust Tweedy's competency. Robert was a patient with sickle cell anemia and was quickly cast off to other doctors in the hospital as someone seeking pain medication for opioid abuse. However, Robert was not a typical patient. Robert quickly came at Tweedy's knowledge of his disease asking him directly, "What do you know about the disease?" Thinking of multiple symptoms and different responses to the question Tweedy decides to ask what he meant. Then oing further to proclaim that he was not a guinea pig and did not want to be seen by a black doctor. This comment and Roberts views perplexed me. In a place or time where you are feeling most vulnerable such as a hospital why would you not want to see someone that looked like you? Then to go and state that unless Tweedy is an expert in Sickle cell he does not want to see him. That idea asserts that because he is a black man in a white coat that he may be an expert in a disease that primarily affects black people. However, if Tweedy is not then he does not want to be seen by him and instead asks for a white doctor who to Robert's beliefs may be more competent. I believe that this encounter however, it may be a small piece in this book, might have had a larger impact on Tweedy than his encounters with an overt racist like Chester.