A colleague of mine once asked me a question that haunts me to this day: “If you care about social justice this much, why are you in medical school?” I was stunned, and I had no response to offer them. That day, I walked away to preserve my peace, but I have an answer now.
I have an answer for every doubter who believes that it is not a physician’s job …
It is our job to change the rhetoric on who physicians are
Recently in Minneapolis, George Floyd was killed by Officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, including almost three minutes after Floyd was unresponsive. This senseless murder is now added to an already long list of occurrences of police brutality that disproportionately affects communities of color. The need for an independent autopsy to confirm the …
A medical student perspective on George Floyd’s murder
Coronavirus has overwhelmed hospitals, staff, and supply chains, stripped many Americans of health care coverage along with their jobs, and affected billions of people worldwide with mounting fatalities.
Despite its massive human toll, the pandemic offers the promise of a much-improved health care system for the future. Our response to this tragedy paves the way for integrated, value-based health care systems in which patients receive the care they need without exhausting …
The COVID-19 pandemic is a catalyst for reimagining future health care delivery
Strangulation and traumatic asphyxia. Not even a few days ago, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, that is what likely killed George Floyd. Later, they decided it was neither and instead of corroborating what America watched an officer do in a harrowing video – suffocate a man to death – they decided Floyd likely died due to underlying health conditions and potential intoxicants in his …
Medical students across the country, such as myself, are struggling to come to terms with the pandemic. The most affected of this group is the current fourth years, trying to embark on their journey of picking a specialty and finding a residency position. As we are considered “non-essential,” we must deal with the consequences of the administration making decisions for us. I speak for myself specifically when I say I …
My people are dying. My country is burning. And I’m stuck in the medical education system.
Six years ago, Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, MO, igniting the White Coats For Black Lives movement. I was a medical student at the time. As we prepared for a die-in in protest of Michael Brown’s death and the officer’s acquittal, my medical school class erupted into debate. Some felt strongly that we should not wear our white coats during our protest.
The white coat holds immense symbolism for the …
Medicine vs. racism: white coats for black lives
Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd.
We speak their names out when they no longer can.
As a medical student, I have learned and recognized the many prejudices underlying our healthcare system against persons of color. Racism runs rampant in hospitals and clinics – places that are meant to heal, not to hurt. Black patients, in particular, suffer biases that result in disparities and even Read more…
Medical students in solidarity: Black Lives Matter
Health care workers need to start talking about white people killing black people, and here’s why: every victim of racial violence will be seen by a health care professional at or near the time of the event. We in the health care community are often the first people called to the aftermath of these crimes, and yet we are not speaking out.
I am a neurosurgeon. I work largely in Nassau County, …
Health care workers have a role to play in Black Lives Matter
Over the past two months, health professionals and community advocates have brought to the fore of national attention what has been the lived experience of many within black and brown communities for ages — racism kills. The substrate of structural racism and systemic inequities, now combined with a catalyst, COVID-19, is accelerating fatalities among those who are disproportionately burdened by chronic diseases …
How to mitigate risk and foster resilience among vulnerable populations during COVID-19
Those who knew George remembered him as “a big man with a heart to match” and a “good friend,” “good person,” and someone who “took care of people.”
Tragically, George Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020.
You may have already seen the heartstrings-shredding video showing his excruciatingly slow and torturously savage homicide. As George struggled in his final moments to simply breathe while begging for his life, and onlookers recording the …
George Floyd: Framing police brutality through the lens of an emergent public health crisis
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the U.S., with a prevalence of 15.2 percent. The condition is manageable when treatment is appropriately prescribed, adjusted, and accessed by the patient. However, uncontrolled asthma can impair various facets of life and may even be fatal. This dichotomy is noteworthy, especially when considering how strongly asthma outcomes correlate with other elements of an individual’s social …
Mobilizing medicine: a breathtaking solution to asthma disparities
I learned to call Atlanta home after college. It was at Grady Memorial Hospital that I first shadowed doctors, and decided that I would go to medical school. Two and a half years into being an ATLien, I cried inconsolably because it was time to leave. I have since continued to yearn for the day I will migrate back South. As I contemplate where I will apply to residency this …
COVID-19, Georgia, and racial disparities: Do all lives still matter?
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it revealed a troubling paradox in Vermont’s healthscape. Monopoly-creating laws and regulations (like the Affordable Care Act and the Certificate of Need program) have artificially reduced the state’s health facilities and resources. Vermonters must contend with fewer hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, and reduced access to medical imaging technology. On the one hand, …
COVID exposed this state’s mangled health care system
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Some media outlets and public figures have heralded the ongoing pandemic as a great equalizer, referencing the pathogen’s indiscriminate spread and disregard for national borders and tax brackets.
The sobering mortality statistics, however, dispense any notion of an equal-opportunity crisis, revealing a familiar theme among public health challenges in America: significant racial disparities exist, and communities of color are disproportionately affected.
CDC data show that blacks account for 29% of confirmed infections …
COVID is not a great equalizer
There are so many. As health care providers and as a nation, we have been acutely aware of the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and, more specifically, on the African American community.
In April, nearly three-fourths of patients who died from COVID-19 in Chicago were African American. But what I have seen more and more at my hospital is a shift toward a different (but also often marginalized) demographic: …
The impact of COVID on the Hispanic community
At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, 46 million people were placed under a 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, China. The conversation around this initial story centered on the resilience of that population, isolating in the face of an unknown and deadly threat. Following the further spread of the virus, countless messages of unity and hope poured in from many corners of the …
A proposed public health response to facilitate continued adherence to COVID-19 restrictions
One afternoon in clinic, I opened a patient’s chart for a telehealth visit. Within days of the COVID pandemic, all clinic visits had transitioned to telehealth. The young woman had sent a picture through the electronic medical record of a rash on her leg. Upon calling her, the woman explained that the rash started a month ago, wasn’t painful, and she couldn’t recall anything that caused it. On further investigation …
A response to unemployment during the COVID pandemic: Medicare for all
What labor struggles do a grocery worker, custodian, and doctor in the United States have in common? A few months ago, many people’s answers may have been – not much. But ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, our shared challenges are becoming ever more apparent.
The pandemic is revealing that physicians, under our current for-profit medical system, are workers. Doctors are being expected to labor in dangerous settings for …
How the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for class consciousness among physicians
The narrative that paints health care workers as “heroes” makes me uncomfortable. I may not have a right to an opinion as I am third-string back up not currently working in an overwhelmed ER or ICU. I also feel uneasy about the sea of gratitude and cheers of support, though I know they are uplifting to the people on the receiving end.
Yet, while watching these stories of appreciation, resilience, and …
Stop calling health care workers heroes and do something to help them
As an academic internist, over the past five years, I’ve been hearing more and more about social determinants of health. I have read countless journal articles comparing health outcomes; I’ve attended grand rounds on the subject; recently, our electronic medical record changed to incorporate a tab on social determinants of health into the patient’s chart. As a course director in the medical school, I’ve incorporated this topic into …
The social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic
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