Sexism in Medicine

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Full of men attendings, but I think patients tend to stick with the same provider. I think I should have just not gone into Medicine. Would have been much easier. No one tells you these things when one is applying, going through med school, etc. Sigh

I was more going for that a lot of your patients are going to suck, I'm really starting to think you may have something of a persecution complex here as you assumed I was talking about male pain doctors...

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[Burnted_out]

Yes. I’m in my last year of vascular surgery fellowship.

Wow that’s awesome. I did not realize training for vascular surgery was so long!

 

[LucidSplash]

Wow that’s awesome. I did not realize training for vascular surgery was so long!

Only if you’re not very smart lol.

I did general surgery first. Vascular fellowship is only 2 years.

 

[Burnted_out]

Only if you’re not very smart lol.

I did general surgery first. Vascular fellowship is only 2 years.

Haha. Well gen surg is 5 years no? + 2 vascular = 7. Did you do another fellowship after gen surg?

 

[Burnted_out]

I was more going for that a lot of your patients are going to suck, I'm really starting to think you may have something of a persecution complex here as you assumed I was talking about male pain doctors...

No persecution complex, thanks. I don’t think that a lot of the pain patients are going to suck. I’m sure some will. Some won’t. Plenty of patients suck now. Nothing new.

 

[LucidSplash]

Haha. Well gen surg is 5 years no? + 2 vascular = 7. Did you do another fellowship after gen surg?

I did some research.

 

[Stagg737]

No our midlevels represent themselves appropriately and don’t have delusions of grandeur. I get a lot of the you are too young to be a doctor thing too. I should start keeping track of this.

I get this all the time too and I'm in my 30's (to be fair I look like early 20's when I shave) and have been mistaken for a tech numerous times when I wear scrubs without my white coat. Even when I'm wearing my white coat, I've had people ask if I'm actually the doctor several times. I've had patients tell me they didn't want me to treat them because they didn't believe I was their physician. I don't take offense though, some people just legitimately make mistakes. Other people are straight up a-holes, and if they want to sabotage their own treatment then that's on them (unless they're on the psych unit of course, but I handle those patients differently than on medical floors).

During my hubby's last hospitalization, (he was here for three days with an abcessed stitch from a surgery 9 years ago)...In one day, (from midnight to midnight) I counted 6 RN's, in navy blue scrubs, but 2 had on white coats as they were doing "admin" type things; 3 CNA's, in teal scrubs; 2 EM residents, they were in navy blue scrubs, but I recognized them as residents (I deal with onboarding of new residents); 2 EVS personnel in light blue shirts and dark pants; 2 lab people (one to draw what was in the drain and one to draw blood) both in red scrubs and white coats; 6 medical students in business casual and short white coats during rounds; 5 residents in light blue scrubs (OR) during rounds; 1 resident in light blue (OR) scrubs and a white coat; and 1 attending. In a polo shirt and khakis. SOOO...my point is that we had an advantage, because I knew most of the residents who came in, by name if not personally because I work here. Half the time, when they came in, they were moving so fast it was hard to hear names and titles clearly. I usually had to ask them to repeat themselves, because my dearly beloved is hard of hearing. There was not a standardized "uniform", and the white coat was misleading. Plus, the "lead" resident on rounds did not have a coat on...just the scrubs. Someone who did not have insider knowledge of who these people were could get confused easily, and call the doctor the nurse, or vice versa. without trying to be mean or rude.

This is very true. In addition to the sheer number of people coming in and out of patient's rooms, many patients have no idea how the medical system actually works, are scared and confused about what is happening around them, and are in significant pain/discomfort and going on little sleep (hospitals are not places to go to get rest). When I'm the 10th person has seen in a day when they're in pain, confused, and running on little sleep I don't expect them to remember my name or title, especially when some of them don't even recognize me after I've seen them several days in a row.

Sure there are lots of people coming in an out of every patient's room all day long. But again it's simple - when someone says I am doctor X, and they are confused, or look at you like you are crazy or something like that, or make comments, or keep calling you nurse, etc. it's disheartening.

This is probably going to sound blunt and possibly insulting (it's not meant to), but it's not about you. When the patient is a complete a-hole and is belligerent and/or derogatory it's still our job to suck it up and treat them. Yes, we can report them when they're inappropriate, but that doesn't mean that we don't treat. Sometimes it sucks, but I think it's just better to not let it get to you and move on. Even their statements and apparent inability to recall you're a physician 30 seconds later isn't about you. It's about them either not being in an appropriate mental state, them having pre-conceived notions which may have once been valid but are gradually becoming less and less true, or them simply having a personality problem. Regardless of the reason, it's still not about you. The only aspect that is about you is how you let those statements affect you, which is completely within your control.

 

[AMEHigh]

Again, it is not actually possible for patients to be sexist against their doctors. The doctors have the power in the relationship, the patients are vulnerable and helpless. They, by definition, cannot be sexist

Wake up. Recognize your privilege

Wow. That’s really ignorant.
Patients have been racist and sexist towards me on more than 1 occasion. This is a rather common experience for women, believe it or not.
Just because they are in my office doesn’t make them helpless.
Calling me the N word is racist regardless of the situation. Making sexual remarks to me in my office is sexist regardless of my occupation.

 

[Crayola227]

Yeah this is something that isn’t about medicine per se. It would probably be great if society in general weren’t so focused on a woman’s youth/appearance. This happens to women in all fields, because it’s considered appropriate for strangers to comment on it for some reason. But really, it’s a very small thing in contrast to outright harassment and gender pay gap, minority incarceration/lethal experiences with law enforcement, yada yada. Really most people don’t make these comments to be offensive they are complimenting you. I get that you’d rather they not comment but it’s a pick your battles kind of thing. The “young” comments just aren’t worth the emotional energy when there are other more important battles to fight.

I don't totally buy this, because women are 50% of the population, so whatever social conditioning this represents is relevant to consider.

This thing where we think it's OK to be so focused on a woman's youth/appearance, or where we feel surprise that a woman is in a position of power (for whatever reason we feel surprise!), it all seems like small things. But they are endemic. It seems minor, but woven in the whole cloth, the result is not something to shrug your shoulders about.

Why not just inform people that asking you how old you are is inappropriate, in general. They may not pick up that they've been conditioned to do this to women and not men. Don't need to necessarily get into that. But it helps if women do speak up about these things.

 

[LucidSplash]

I don't totally buy this, because women are 50% of the population, so whatever social conditioning this represents is relevant to consider.

This thing where we think it's OK to be so focused on a woman's youth/appearance, or where we feel surprise that a woman is in a position of power (for whatever reason we feel surprise!), it all seems like small things. But they are endemic. It seems minor, but woven in the whole cloth, the result is not something to shrug your shoulders about.

Why not just inform people that asking you how old you are is inappropriate, in general. They may not pick up that they've been conditioned to do this to women and not men. Don't need to necessarily get into that. But it helps if women do speak up about these things.

We all choose how to handle this stuff in our own way. For me, I think there are bigger things to worry about. YMMV.

 

[Shufflin]

Again, it is not actually possible for patients to be sexist against their doctors. The doctors have the power in the relationship, the patients are vulnerable and helpless. They, by definition, cannot be sexist

Wake up. Recognize your privilege

Let's not confuse sexual harassment, which is rooted in power imbalance, with sexism, which is discrimination not dependent on power imbalance. This is true in both ethics and law.

 

[Crayola227]

I get this all the time too and I'm in my 30's (to be fair I look like early 20's when I shave) and have been mistaken for a tech numerous times when I wear scrubs without my white coat. Even when I'm wearing my white coat, I've had people ask if I'm actually the doctor several times. I've had patients tell me they didn't want me to treat them because they didn't believe I was their physician. I don't take offense though, some people just legitimately make mistakes. Other people are straight up a-holes, and if they want to sabotage their own treatment then that's on them (unless they're on the psych unit of course, but I handle those patients differently than on medical floors).



This is very true. In addition to the sheer number of people coming in and out of patient's rooms, many patients have no idea how the medical system actually works, are scared and confused about what is happening around them, and are in significant pain/discomfort and going on little sleep (hospitals are not places to go to get rest). When I'm the 10th person has seen in a day when they're in pain, confused, and running on little sleep I don't expect them to remember my name or title, especially when some of them don't even recognize me after I've seen them several days in a row.



This is probably going to sound blunt and possibly insulting (it's not meant to), but it's not about you. When the patient is a complete a-hole and is belligerent and/or derogatory it's still our job to suck it up and treat them. Yes, we can report them when they're inappropriate, but that doesn't mean that we don't treat. Sometimes it sucks, but I think it's just better to not let it get to you and move on. Even their statements and apparent inability to recall you're a physician 30 seconds later isn't about you. It's about them either not being in an appropriate mental state, them having pre-conceived notions which may have once been valid but are gradually becoming less and less true, or them simply having a personality problem. Regardless of the reason, it's still not about you. The only aspect that is about you is how you let those statements affect you, which is completely within your control.

Why it bothers me, really does have nothing to do with me, or that people have bad intentions. That's what makes it disheartening for me. It just reminds me that somewhere along the line people got some idea that girls aren't doctors, or that girls just are or aren't something to where it is surprising. I can't help that whatever that secret message they got from the ether was, it doesn't represent something good about our society, or it represents elements I think are part of undesirable consequences.

 

[AMEHigh]

Almost nothing is more irritating than men telling women something isn’t sexist and white people telling people of color something isn’t racist. This thread is the worse.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Almost nothing is more irritating than men telling women something isn’t sexist and white people telling people of color something isn’t racist. This thread is the worse.

To be fair, im not pretending or acting like it isnt happening, im simply giving another possible explanation for it, one that requires you assume the best of your patients rather than assume the worst. Assuming the best isnt always correct, of course.

At least thats what im doing in my serious posts. In my less serious posts, im pointing out that all of the female doctors who suffer from this are in fact extremely privileged, have a massive power dynamic over their patients, who are a vulnerable population, and in OTHER contexts, this would make it quite obvious and clear (to some, usually including most feminists) that the female doctors (again, who have massive privilege) should not complain or try to attack or criticize their patients, who are vulnerable and victims and disempowered and therefore cannot actually be in the wrong.

This is why intersectionalism is so hard!

 

[Winged Scapula]

The OP Is a previously banned member. Reincarnates are not allowed.

 

[Winged Scapula]

FWIW I’ll keep the thread open despite the OPs status because it’s a worthwhile topic.

 

[clausewitz2]

Let's not confuse sexual harassment, which is rooted in power imbalance, with sexism, which is discrimination not dependent on power imbalance. This is true in both ethics and law.

This is at odds with current intersectionalist theories of oppression, which definitely do argue along the lines of @vhawk

Whether or not you accept that, what they are saying actually an accurate representation of how to be consistent in applying these concepts, even if they intend it as a reductio ad absurdum.

To be clear, the intersectionalist definition of these things is not the same as the plain language or even legal definition of "sexism" or "racism".

 

[rokshana]

Umm ok I guess I am stupid too. I guess I should go work on my countless *nursing* notes now.

People get called stupid here all the time...has nothing to do with you being a female...but is telling that you constantly pull the gender card everytime someone disagrees with you

 

[Stagg737]

People get called stupid here all the time...has nothing to do with you being a female...but is telling that you constantly pull the gender card everytime someone disagrees with you

Which could be part of why they have now beeen banned twice...

 

[Stagg737]

Almost nothing is more irritating than men telling women something isn’t sexist and white people telling people of color something isn’t racist. This thread is the worse.

My only point of argument here is when people start calling every little thing sexist or racist because people then take the actual instances of prejudice less seriously.

 

[Shufflin]

This is at odds with current intersectionalist theories of oppression, which definitely do argue along the lines of @vhawk

Whether or not you accept that, what they are saying actually an accurate representation of how to be consistent in applying these concepts, even if they intend it as a reductio ad absurdum.

To be clear, the intersectionalist definition of these things is not the same as the plain language or even legal definition of "sexism" or "racism".

Applying a theory of Intersectionality does not change legal definitions, but I think i see what you are getting at.

I'm using definitions that are accepted by ethicists and attorneys. Just curious, how would you define sexism and sexual harassment based on intersectionalist theory? Many people confuse or get fuzzy with definitions so i was just offering clarification.

 

[clausewitz2]

Applying a theory of Intersectionality does not change legal definitions.

I'm using definitions one would find in reference books.

I mean there's not a legal definition of sexism per se (maybe discrimination based on sex, sure) but that is really a totally tangential question to this thread. For what it is worth intersectional theory is totally a thing that some legal scholars apply to analyzing the law. For example, these people at the Columbia School of Law: Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) | Columbia Global

I think if you are limiting yourself in a discussion of the reality of society to "things that the law recognizes" you are not having a very useful or interesting discussion. Disagree with whatever you will, provide cogent arguments against anything you think is not justified, but arguments from authority (and kind of weak ones at that, what reference books are you talking about) aren't a good look.

to head it off at the pass, no, definitions in Merriam-Webster do not constitute an argument. Dictionary editors are explicitly trying to be descriptive, not prescriptive.

 

[NITRAS]

I don't totally buy this, because women are 50% of the population, so whatever social conditioning this represents is relevant to consider.

This thing where we think it's OK to be so focused on a woman's youth/appearance, or where we feel surprise that a woman is in a position of power (for whatever reason we feel surprise!), it all seems like small things. But they are endemic. It seems minor, but woven in the whole cloth, the result is not something to shrug your shoulders about.

Why not just inform people that asking you how old you are is inappropriate, in general. They may not pick up that they've been conditioned to do this to women and not men. Don't need to necessarily get into that. But it helps if women do speak up about these things.

Up until very recently, I was asked about my aged multiple times a week. I was called Doogie Howser most weeks. Facial hair helps, but I blame my second child the most.

 

[Shufflin]

I mean there's not a legal definition of sexism per se (maybe discrimination based on sex, sure) but that is really a totally tangential question to this thread. For what it is worth intersectional theory is totally a thing that some legal scholars apply to analyzing the law. For example, these people at the Columbia School of Law: Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) | Columbia Global

I think if you are limiting yourself in a discussion of the reality of society to "things that the law recognizes" you are not having a very useful or interesting discussion. Disagree with whatever you will, provide cogent arguments against anything you think is not justified, but arguments from authority (and kind of weak ones at that, what reference books are you talking about) aren't a good look.

to head it off at the pass, no, definitions in Merriam-Webster do not constitute an argument. Dictionary editors are explicitly trying to be descriptive, not prescriptive.

So what is a definition to you?

 

[clausewitz2]

So what is a definition to you?

A deep question in some sense, but I don't think you mean this in a philosophical way.

This is really not complicated. Honest. We are talking about sexism as it is manifested in an actual interaction in society. The definition of sexism as an intersection of gender and power is a very standard definition offered by a lot of scholars, activitists, and people who think hard about this. Your response is to say "show me the law that says that", which borders on the non sequitur.

I'm not 100% sold on intersectional theory myself and @vhawk 's comment can be read as a surprisingly sophisticated critique of the framework but the correct response to ideas you disagree with is a) argue about why the conclusions are reached incorrectly from the premises or b) demonstrate why the premises are ill-founded. Vague invocations of "law" or "ethics"(!) don't even have the form of a counter-argument.

My question for you:

1) Some people argue that sexism (or racism, or ableism, or whatever) is the result of a systemic/institutional power differential between two groups of people and the attitudes of the people involved are immaterial. What bearing does the law or "ethics" have on this question?

 

[deleted480308]

Almost nothing is more irritating than men telling women something isn’t sexist and white people telling people of color something isn’t racist. This thread is the worse.

Words have meanings regardless of gender/race

 

[AMEHigh]

Words have meanings regardless of gender/race

Yes they do, they also have meaning regardless of my occupation.
Hence, even when I’m their doctor and someone calls me the N word that is racist due to meaning and history of the word.

 

[Rachell]

A deep question in some sense, but I don't think you mean this in a philosophical way.

This is really not complicated. Honest. We are talking about sexism as it is manifested in an actual interaction in society. The definition of sexism as an intersection of gender and power is a very standard definition offered by a lot of scholars, activitists, and people who think hard about this. Your response is to say "show me the law that says that", which borders on the non sequitur.

I'm not 100% sold on intersectional theory myself and @vhawk 's comment can be read as a surprisingly sophisticated critique of the framework but the correct response to ideas you disagree with is a) argue about why the conclusions are reached incorrectly from the premises or b) demonstrate why the premises are ill-founded. Vague invocations of "law" or "ethics"(!) don't even have the form of a counter-argument.

My question for you:

1) Some people argue that sexism (or racism, or ableism, or whatever) is the result of a systemic/institutional power differential between two groups of people and the attitudes of the people involved are immaterial. What bearing does the law or "ethics" have on this question?

I agree with Shufflin. He was simply trying to clarify. This thread is about sexism, vhawk made a comment suggesting if the power dynamic is in the reverse direction then it nullifies the sexism.

Shufflin then came to help clarify that sexism does not depend on power imbalance and regardless of the power structure, sexism can still exist.

I see Shufflin standing up for women who are discriminated against. Why do you challenge that? You can take your philosophies and shove it where the sun don't shine

 

[deleted480308]

Yes they do, they also have meaning regardless of my occupation.
Hence, even when I’m their doctor and someone calls me the N word that is racist due to meaning and history of the word.

I think you misunderstood my point. Dropping epithets on someone that you consider beneath you because of their race is definitely racist.

But you were implying that men had less standing to say if a situation was sexist than a woman and white people less than a minority. You’re wrong. And to be clear your race and gender is irrelevant to how wrong you are

 

[deleted480308]

I agree with Shufflin. He was simply trying to clarify. This thread is about sexism, vhawk made a comment suggesting if the power dynamic is in the reverse direction then it nullifies the sexism.

Shufflin then came to help clarify that sexism does not depend on power imbalance and regardless of the power structure, sexism can still exist.

I see Shufflin standing up for women who are discriminated against. Why do you challenge that? You can take your philosophies and shove it where the sun don't shine

I’ve never bought that power is a requirement for racism/sexism

 

[hmockingbird]

I get it, as a petite woman. To an extent I agree you’ve got to learn how to not let it affect you because it’s just going to happen. That doesn’t make it okay but it’s just reality. This bothered me way more as an intern but as a senior I just don’t care.

Patients/families are definitely vulnerable so I do give them some more slack than I would if somebody randomly came up to me in public and asked my age, or something like that. (Has happened. Lol) I usually smile and make a direct subject change, which is conveniently easy to do as a doctor because you have lots of questions to ask them! However, if someone’s being egregious it’s also okay to correct them. You can still expect politeness/basic respect. Just like you would tell a leering or racist patient “those comments are not appropriate”, you can say “calling me a little girl is not appropriate”. Like I said I try to reserve this for the worst situations because chances are most of the time people aren’t trying to be rude.

Sometimes I also joke with patients. Like, “oh don’t you know you can’t ask a lady her age?” Or “well they didn’t pick me for med school for my looks!” I feel like with the right audience that gently calls them out without making them feel as bad as a straight “that’s inappropriate”. ETA: with the second I also feel like I’m doing some minor education by pointing out that diverse people (ie not only white men) are now doctors.

ETA2: Also make friends with your nurses. I’ve had a nurse call a few times asking if anyone has seen the patient yet because they said they haven’t seen a doctor. When I’m like yeah... I’ve been in there three times, because I’m friends with the nurses they just laugh and will go “correct” the patient for me.

 

[clausewitz2]

I agree with Shufflin. He was simply trying to clarify. This thread is about sexism, vhawk made a comment suggesting if the power dynamic is in the reverse direction then it nullifies the sexism.

Shufflin then came to help clarify that sexism does not depend on power imbalance and regardless of the power structure, sexism can still exist.

I see Shufflin standing up for women who are discriminated against. Why do you challenge that? You can take your philosophies and shove it where the sun don't shine

If we're to the point where someone saying "hey actually there is another conception of this term and dynamic that might bear thinking about and is also generally how people who study this for am living think about it" gets met with "nah, that's not possible", I'm not sure civil conversation can really go anywhere. I'm out.

 

[Sam212]

OP has some serious issues. They have previously posted here complaining about their coresodents as well as firing their patients under different usernames. They have posted about some real petty things here. They are a special kind of snowflake. It’s time they look in the mirror.

 

[il pani]

I agree with Shufflin. He was simply trying to clarify. This thread is about sexism, vhawk made a comment suggesting if the power dynamic is in the reverse direction then it nullifies the sexism.

Shufflin then came to help clarify that sexism does not depend on power imbalance and regardless of the power structure, sexism can still exist.

I see Shufflin standing up for women who are discriminated against. Why do you challenge that? You can take your philosophies and shove it where the sun don't shine

Agree. There is a serious lack of understanding in this forum on the types of discrimination, intersectionality, privilege and power. People have unconscious biases because we live in a society that perpetuates systemic discrimination (sexism) towards women, that ranges from discriminatory policies to inaccurate portrayals of women in the media. Therefore, people create an image of "what women are", which is based in stereotypes and prejudice. This is what leads to interpersonal discrimination (another form of sexism), which is often unconscious, and is what leads patients to think that women coming into their room are nurses. It is not done on purpose, it is the way they think the world looks like because, historically, women have been discriminated against and ostracized from professions like medicine. The fact that a patient has a bias against women in medicine has NOTHING to do with the fact that the female physician is in a position of power. And it DOES NOT nullify sexism, that doesn't even make any sense. You can't compare apples to oranges. A white female physician is in a more privileged position over a black male patient in terms of race and profession, but NOT in terms of gender. It is true that women face a LOT of UNCONSCIOUS BIASES in their day-to-day lives and speaking as a man, it is our job to understand the core of these issues and be advocates for gender equity.

 

[Donald Juan]

I wish we could all agree that our patients are all racist, sexist, uneducated poor people who don't deserve our care as physicians. You have two types of patients: the ones who make racist and sexist comments, and the ones who think racist and sexist thoughts.

All the people here trying to justify your patient's terrible behavior by saying they're in a fragile state or they're uneducated or it's confusing meeting 50 different people in one day need to grow up. Stop treating your patient's like special little snowflakes. If someone mistakes you for the phlebotomist you should just shove their tray of jello in their face and storm out.

 

[Goro]

I wish we could all agree that our patients are all racist, sexist, uneducated poor people who don't deserve our care as physicians. You have two types of patients: the ones who make racist and sexist comments, and the ones who think racist and sexist thoughts.

All the people here trying to justify your patient's terrible behavior by saying they're in a fragile state or they're uneducated or it's confusing meeting 50 different people in one day need to grow up. Stop treating your patient's like special little snowflakes. If someone mistakes you for the phlebotomist you should just shove their tray of jello in their face and storm out.

Wouldn't it be more fitting to prescribe them a strong laxative?

 

[vhawk]

Wow. That’s really ignorant.
Patients have been racist and sexist towards me on more than 1 occasion. This is a rather common experience for women, believe it or not.
Just because they are in my office doesn’t make them helpless.
Calling me the N word is racist regardless of the situation. Making sexual remarks to me in my office is sexist regardless of my occupation.

Nope, impossible. Racism is about power, and patients are vulnerable and powerless and therefore cannot be racist or sexist. For real though you should check your privilege here because your comments are extremely problematic

 

[vhawk]

I’ve never bought that power is a requirement for racism/sexism

Cool, yer wrong

 

[vhawk]

A deep question in some sense, but I don't think you mean this in a philosophical way.

This is really not complicated. Honest. We are talking about sexism as it is manifested in an actual interaction in society. The definition of sexism as an intersection of gender and power is a very standard definition offered by a lot of scholars, activitists, and people who think hard about this. Your response is to say "show me the law that says that", which borders on the non sequitur.

I'm not 100% sold on intersectional theory myself and @vhawk 's comment can be read as a surprisingly sophisticated critique of the framework but the correct response to ideas you disagree with is a) argue about why the conclusions are reached incorrectly from the premises or b) demonstrate why the premises are ill-founded. Vague invocations of "law" or "ethics"(!) don't even have the form of a counter-argument.

My question for you:

1) Some people argue that sexism (or racism, or ableism, or whatever) is the result of a systemic/institutional power differential between two groups of people and the attitudes of the people involved are immaterial. What bearing does the law or "ethics" have on this question?

::blushing::

 

[vhawk]

FWIW I’ll keep the thread open despite the OPs status because it’s a worthwhile topic.

Highly false, and you have been duly reported

 

[ortnakas]

Jumping into the thread on page 3, but here goes:

I get called nurse or "but you're too young to be my doctor!" all the time. And the majority of patients are just confused because I'm female and (admittedly) young-looking and therefore statistically more likely to be their nurse, but at the same time, neither of these things ever happen to my male co-residents, and it's annoying.

 

[AMEHigh]

Nope, impossible. Racism is about power, and patients are vulnerable and powerless and therefore cannot be racist or sexist. For real though you should check your privilege here because your comments are extremely problematic

I’m not going to engage in a debate, but I do have 1 question that I actually would like to know. What do you call it when a patient says “don’t let the N-word touch me because N-word can’t be doctors because they’re not smart like us white people. Give me a white doctor.” And then proceeds on to a white doctor like nothing ever happened.

I’m struggling to come up with another definition outside of racism (using discrimination against someone based on race due to beliefs that their race is superior), hence my question.

 

[vhawk]

I’m not going to engage in a debate, but I do have 1 question that I actually would like to know. What do you call it when a patient says “don’t let the N-word touch me because N-word can’t be doctors because they’re not smart like us white people. Give me a white doctor.” And then proceeds on to a white doctor like nothing ever happened.

I’m struggling to come up with another definition outside of racism (using discrimination against someone based on race due to beliefs that their race is superior), hence my question.

Its a vulnerable person expressing their powerlessness in the best way they know, and honestly its pretty disgusting that you would use your privilege and your power to criticize them. Very very problematic.

 

[deleted480308]

I’m not going to engage in a debate, but I do have 1 question that I actually would like to know. What do you call it when a patient says “don’t let the N-word touch me because N-word can’t be doctors because they’re not smart like us white people. Give me a white doctor.” And then proceeds on to a white doctor like nothing ever happened.

I’m struggling to come up with another definition outside of racism (using discrimination against someone based on race due to beliefs that their race is superior), hence my question.

In private practice I would call that a “former patient “

 

[AMEHigh]

Its a vulnerable person expressing their powerlessness in the best way they know, and honestly its pretty disgusting that you would use your privilege and your power to criticize them. Very very problematic.

Huh? I didn’t criticize anyone, but I do think those are racist remarks. People are free to pick whatever doctor they want and I don’t criticize them for that. I don’t let it get to me when a patient calls me the N-word or expresses to staff that they don’t want an N-word doctor when calling to make an appointment. I’ve never criticized a patient for using the N-word towards me, so not sure where you got that from.

Interesting idea that when a person calls a doctor’s office or walks in to a doctor’s office they are automatically considered vulnerable/helpless/powerless.

But thanks for answering the question, so my description above fits the definition of powerless for you when a patient calls you the N-word and refuses to be seen by you due to being Black. Interesting, never heard that viewpoint before.

 

[vhawk]

Huh? I didn’t criticize anyone, but I do think those are racist remarks. People are free to pick whatever doctor they want and I don’t criticize them for that. I don’t let it get to me when a patient calls me the N-word or expresses to staff that they don’t want an N-word doctor when calling to make an appointment. I’ve never criticized a patient for using the N-word towards me, so not sure where you got that from.

Interesting idea that when a person calls a doctor’s office or walks in to a doctor’s office they are automatically considered vulnerable/helpless/powerless.

But thanks for answering the question, so my description above fits the definition of powerless for you when a patient calls you the N-word and refuses to be seen by you due to being Black. Interesting, never heard that viewpoint before.

They are sick.

You are a wealthy doctor.

This isnt really that hard.

 

[AMEHigh]

In private practice I would call that a “former patient “

Yeah there are all sorts of patients that the office manager has had to send letters to to dismiss from our office for certain behaviors. They get their 1 month notification of course.

 

[AMEHigh]

They are sick.

You are a wealthy doctor.

This isnt really that hard.

What happens when I’m the sick wealthy doctor? Haha. The good thing about outpatient medicine is that not everyone is sick when they call the office or come in to appointments! Thanks for answering my question.

 

[deleted480308]

Huh? I didn’t criticize anyone, but I do think those are racist remarks. People are free to pick whatever doctor they want and I don’t criticize them for that. I don’t let it get to me when a patient calls me the N-word or expresses to staff that they don’t want an N-word doctor when calling to make an appointment. I’ve never criticized a patient for using the N-word towards me, so not sure where you got that from.

Interesting idea that when a person calls a doctor’s office or walks in to a doctor’s office they are automatically considered vulnerable/helpless/powerless.

But thanks for answering the question, so my description above fits the definition of powerless for you when a patient calls you the N-word and refuses to be seen by you due to being Black. Interesting, never heard that viewpoint before.

I am comfortable criticizing someone’s behavior if they are dropping epithets aimed at coworkers....very comfortable

 

[vhawk]

What happens when I’m the sick wealthy doctor? Haha. The good thing about outpatient medicine is that not everyone is sick when they call the office or come in to appointments! Thanks for answering my question.

I mean, give me the scenario and im happy to delineate the power dynamics for you. Its very easy. If you are consenting them for something, your words are violence