Pauline Chen’s column talks about whether race plays a role in the doctor-patient relationship. The studies she cites are not encouraging, with “minority patients and white patients report[ing] better health care experiences when their doctors are of the same race or ethnicity,” and “white patients who had non-white physicians were more likely to report a medical error than white patients with white doctors.”
I’m an Asian-American physician. After reading the piece, it makes me wonder if race is a factor whenever a patient decides to leave my practice.