A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.
The recent occurrence of widespread civil unrest in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us as physicians about our appropriate role in dealing with both.
The response of doctors to the pandemic has been fairly straightforward. The central role of individual physicians …
Why physicians must speak out about social inequity
Across the globe, the month of March became a turning point for the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst daily clinical updates, dramatic increase in cases, and rapid policy changes, International Women’s Day – an observance that allows gender equality to take the spotlight – came and went. Since March, COVID-19 worsened existing health disparities, further exacerbated by unacceptable police brutality, Read more…
Immigrant women are essential: Sociocultural factors clinicians should know during times of crisis
Every day since George Floyd’s death, I have read to my five-year-old, brown-skinned boy about reasons to love his skin. After reading a book that explained how black and brown-skinned people are not always treated fairly, he asked, “Does that mean white people are mean?”
As we discussed ways that systemic racism plays out in society, this was exactly the generalization I feared. In the process of explaining how …
Educational curricula, policies, and parenting that support anti-racism beginning in pre-school
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the rush of similar stories from around the country, many have called to “defund the police.” While critics paint this as a reactionary response to high-profile incidents, the phrase deserves deeper consideration than that. The killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a systemic flaw in our criminal justice system. …
Refining the role of police in our society
First and foremost, a mental health crisis is a medical emergency well within the sector of public health. Therefore, the question of who should respond to mental health emergencies is one in which physicians and all medical providers should have a say. Medical providers should not only be aware of the systems in place to respond to mental health crisis but must advocate for patient safety as a measurable outcome …
Who should be the first responders to mental health crises?
“I used to shoot people like you,” the patient said to me.
He was one scary Vietnam vet, and I was one scared second-year resident. Though not Vietnamese, I figured correcting him wouldn’t matter. As an Asian American (Chinese on my dad’s side, Japanese on my mom’s), I’d experienced racism and bigotry before, and from different races, not just white. Even as a doctor, I understood I ‘d still encounter it. …
What ever happened to forgiveness?
1. Thou shalt first become comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations with thyself, before ever trying to have them with any other person.
At this point in our earthly lives, we must — as a matter of urgency — get into that space of vulnerability and face our fears and insecurities. Dig deep to figure out why we are uncomfortable and get past that point with intention and focus.
2. Thou shalt educate …
15 commandments for teaching your kids about racism
I fixed my gaze across a sea of white coats, scrubs, and face masks, as I took a knee in front of my institution’s hospital. A photographer was walking around capturing historical moments while we spent 10 minutes in silence to remember all the black lives lost due to intolerance and racism.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have gotten a surge of emails from my institution’s faculty and administration, …
To those looking to support their black colleagues
“Give ‘em out like candy,” advised a senior resident while handing me a stack of small flyers. The text outlined a list of services provided by a nearby community resource center for help with things like housing, food, education, employment, and legal issues. I never thought this quarter page of paper would prove so critical throughout my time working as a psychiatry resident in our county clinic.
Read more…
What the police and psychiatrists have in common
Two years ago, my wife and I spent our 20th wedding anniversary in Charleston, SC, a city steeped in national history, both good and bad. Nothing could be more iconic of good history than Fort Sumter, and nothing more iconic of bad history than the Old Slave Market on Chalmers Street. We learned a great deal about how our country grappled with its shortcomings. The Great American Experiment, through blood …
The cancel culture and the erasure of less just times and imperfect people
Even before the pandemic, the U.S. health care system needed a significant overhaul. For too long, we have operated in a reactive mode, prioritizing treating illness over ensuring health and wellness. In the post-COVID-19 era, stakes are even higher. Our health care system faces an unprecedented demand surge from millions who put their own care on hold over the past several months. How we approach this impending surge will determine …
Proactive care is the linchpin for saving America’s health care system
It is exciting to see so many American medical students join the protracted struggle for racial justice. Some students are involved in efforts within their institutions to affect change–both curricular and extracurricular. Others are working beyond their institutions, in the streets, and on social media.
While student activism is transforming American medical schools as we speak, an additional key to making sure that the movement both persists and succeeds lies with …
Supporting anti-racist American medical students: What residency programs can do
While waiting for his mother to schedule his next well-child appointment, a young boy sat in our clinic lobby engrossed in his new Reach Out and Read book. He and his family were new to our area, having just moved from Syria a few short months before the onset of the COVID pandemic. Across from him in our rather small clinic lobby sat a girl his age reading the same …
For change to happen, humbly look at ourselves
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We are in the midst of a crisis in humanity. While we are still dealing with COVID pandemic and its deleterious health, economic and societal consequences, our troubling past of racism and inequality is rearing its ugly head.
The senseless killings at the hands of police, the shameful subjugation of persons of color, the systemic prejudice of a person based upon gender, sexual orientation, or disability have placed us at a …
We are in the midst of a crisis in humanity
It has been about three weeks since I’ve had my favorite tortilla. The plant that makes them, located on the lower west side of Chicago, closed after one of its workers died of COVID-19. Unlike workers in the meat-packing industry, the employees of this particular tortilla plant were not forced to go back to work. Instead, the factory closed to perform a thorough cleaning Read more…
How COVID is exposing poor working conditions in the U.S.
This past March, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published six ethical recommendations to guide the allocation of scarce medical resources during COVID-19. In their second recommendation, they stated that “critical COVID-19 interventions — testing, PPE, ICU beds, ventilators, therapeutics, and vaccines — should go first to frontline health care workers and others who care for ill patients.” This makes sense because health care workers …
Before I walked hospital hallways as a medical student, I walked high school hallways as a science teacher in Houston’s 5th Ward. Each year, the most difficult time for me was graduation. The pride of watching my students, most African American, achieve a well-earned success was mixed with the sadness of losing incredible people as they moved on. Also mixed in was the humbling understanding of the incredible disparity between …
Medical students have the responsibility to correct racial inequities
Until recently, I didn’t really understand the meaning behind the Black Lives Matter movement. I was one of those people who felt, “of course, black lives matter; all lives matter.” I mean, that’s exactly why I became a doctor in the first place. To help people. All people. I would venture to say that with my rose-colored glasses and white privilege (that I didn’t know I had), I was even …
A physician awakens to racism in America
Over the last few days, physicians and nurses across the country have taken a knee, galvanized by the recent death of George Floyd, as well as the disproportionate effect of the coronavirus pandemic on African-American families. The White Coats for Black Lives movement firmly identifies racism as a public health issue and calls on everyone in the health care system to take action.
As physicians, we can see what …
South Asian physicians must be part of the solution against racism
The nature of the virus has not changed. Large gatherings of people increase the risk of transmission of a deadly COVID-19 virus that could kill me, my loved ones, and my community. I have emphasized this for the past few months to my patients and scolded anyone who casually and carelessly broke public health recommendations at their convenience. However, after witnessing the murder of George Floyd by the police, as …
Why this physician marched during a pandemic
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