The patient called me ‘colored girl.’ The doctor training me said nothing. (Racism In Medicine)

[HuckleB]

https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/11/racism-medical-education/

"...

Again and again during my four years of training, I encountered racism and ignorance, directed either at patients or at me and other students of color. Yet it was very hard for me to speak up, even politely, because as a student, I felt I had no authority — and didn’t want to seem confrontational to senior physicians who would be writing my evaluations.

These situations made me worry for our future: How can medical professionals address the needs of a rapidly diversifying population, when we cannot address prejudice within our own community?

I did try, once, to speak up, but it didn’t end well. My first clinical rotation was in the ear, nose, and throat clinic. On my first day, I overheard the attending physician grumbling about accommodating an elderly Haitian man with limited English who had misunderstood his appointment time. “We’ll stick the med student on him,” he said. I was excited to test my skills, but I couldn’t help but feel that my seeing this patient was intended as a punishment for him — and that made me uncomfortable.

...

I needed to know if my experiences were anomalies, so I checked in with two well-respected black physicians who focus on diversity in academia. Dr. Marcus Martin, a vice president at the University of Virginia, and Dr. Eve Higginbotham, a vice dean at the University of Pennsylvania, both assured me that I wasn’t alone. In fact, they said such experiences were all too common.

..."

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[bkkyosemite]

1. I would have straight out said something. Outrageous!

[pennylane100]

2. What school was this.

The students should have filed a complaint with the appropriate agency and the school should have been warned that its accreditation was in jeopardy, This is disgusting.

[HuckleB]

9. University of Virginia School of Medicine.

[KamaAina]

10. UVA again?! Is there something in the water in Charlottesville?!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027740299

[HuckleB]

11. Both could be a result of an ugly culture there.

[HuckleB]

3. I think it might be a bit too easy to tell the students how they "should have" handled things.

The sad part is that these people worked their butts off to get there, and it shouldn't be on them to have to put all that work at risk to stand up against such ugliness.

[northernsouthern]

4. I have heard of this too.

My lady has several stories of racists in the hospital, refusing service from middle eastern people and old people saying things that are not PC at all. Lots of messed up things about Obama, lots of people living on assistance talking about people of color that are just takers. It can be depressing, but many of these people are very sick so they are not always completely there. As for the Doctor not standing up for her, that happened with the person refusing middle eastern nurses from helping...they doctor agreed to the person's request. The part you linked I did not find the best example, it seemed more like doctor's being lazy and not wanting to deal with a person that does not speak English and wanting to haze the newbie. I though this was worse...

During my internal medicine rotation a few months later, a patient called me a “colored girl” three times in front of the attending physician. The doctor did not correct the patient, nor did she address the incident with me privately.

Despite all the other positive interactions I had with this teacher, her silence in this circumstance diminished my presence. I wondered if she thought of me as a “colored girl” too.

Again the person may have not known better, but the doctor should have.

[HuckleB]

5. There are worse anecdotes, yes, but I tried to link to the heart of the story.

I always hope people will actually read the article, as a few paragraphs are not enough.

[northernsouthern]

6. That is a good point.

I do find myself struggling with time to read some of the longer linked articles, but I generally try to read the parts around a highlighted text just in case the OP is omitting the actual story. But yeah I definitely need to force myself at times. I never even finished the link to the accomplishments of guy from the Vatican that invited Bernie...I figured a few pages in that I had completely gotten the fact that I am a failure compared to him...

[HuckleB]

8. I can't read everything, either.

But, if I am going to join the conversation, I feel like I should. It isn't easy, though!

[RobinA]

7. In Customer Service

the customer is always right. I worked as a paralegal for a large law firm and the client, the lawyer, and I were walking across a parking lot having left the courthouse after a sex discrimination lawsuit against the client's company was thrown out. The client grabbed me in full view of the lawyer, who continued to stuff trial bags full of documents in the car. Luckily, I checked my impulse to drive my heel into his instep. Talk about not getting it.

In child welfare we always had a client mouthing off in the waiting room about how they would only work with an African-American/white/Latino/male/female caseworker. We usually accommodated them, because it didn't really further anybody's goals to have them uncooperative right out of the gate.

[hamsterjill]

12. I've had an elderly relative call a Hispanic caregiver by a slur

The man was dying, hard of hearing, and very set in his ways. He was in his late 90's, so there wasn't really any chance of getting him to understand what he was saying. But it was highly embarrassing to me and those others within ear shot. To him, it was from a time when things like that were okay. I don't think he even meant it as an insult; it was more "matter-of-fact". But he was wrong to do it, and I felt badly about the whole situation. I apologized on behalf of the family.