42: Medical racism

My colleague recently told me about her and her family's experiences of medical racism. When she was young her sister ended up having a major and avoidable operation because of a problem that wasn't diagnosed despite repeat visits to the GP. From then on, my colleague's mother advised her to 'play up' and 'overemphasise' her symptoms to ensure they were not overlooked and left undiagnosed. Despite this, my colleague wasn't always listened to and was told by one GP that they were 'not here to listen to her problems'. Hearing these stories caused me some self reflection. My colleague is black, I am white. I have also been treated by a London GP for years and yet never felt ignored, silenced or overlooked. In fact, one time I let slip that I went to Oxford University and ended up being 'promoted' to a conversation with the senior partner in the practice. Following this conversation with my colleague, I realise that being white and educated has protected me from experiences such as hers and blinded me to racism, in this case expressed in our health system.