BLACK LIVES MATTER
Research-Based Article / Personal Anecdote
RACISM IN MEDICINE
RETHINKING THE WAY WE TRAIN FUTURE DOCTORS
By Celia Cacho & Ngozi Okoli
T
he Black Lives Matter movement and events surrounding it have brought to light how ingrained racism, specifically anti-Blackness, is within American society. Although systemic racism manifests itself in many forms, it is particularly rooted in the damage of Black bodies and the deaths of Black people. The term “medical racism” is the embodiment of this destruction and encompasses the ways in which Black people have been exploited, overlooked in terms of their scholarship and contributions to the medical field, and altogether disregarded. This historical abuse, coupled with recent protests, prompted several pre-health students to write an open letter and create a resource document to guide future health professionals in addressing the problematic origins of medicine that continue to affect Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) patients today. The use of Black people for experimentation has existed since the early days of slavery. John Brown, an enslaved man, endured several experiments at the hands of a white doctor (Washington, 2008). He was exposed to extreme temperatures—sometimes using fire—as the doctor attempted to find remedies for sunstroke (Mithcell, 1997). Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy, three of twelve enslaved women, underwent various painful operations carried out by James Marion Sims (Washington, 2008). His procedures became the foundation for modern gynecology. Though slavery ended before the turn of
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the 20th century, the experiments and exploitation did not. From 1932 to 1972, six hundred black sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama were enrolled in the US Public Health Service’s Tuskegee syphilis study (“Tuskegee Study”, 2020). The men endured unnecessary procedures, and those with syphilis were never formally diagnosed nor treated, resulting in blindness, dementia, and death (“Tuskegee Study”, 2020). Undoubtedly, the need for medical “innovation” has consistently been used as an excuse for white doctors and researchers to justify harm done to Black people.
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Beyond the experimentation and exploitation endured by Black people, the contributions of Black physicians and researchers within the field of medicine continue to be underappreciated. Dr. Charles R. Drew developed techniques for blood preservation, saving the lives of millions of patients in need of blood transfusions today (“Charles R. Drew, MD”, n.d.; “Celebrating 10”, 2019). Dr. Marilyn H. Gaston’s 1968 study on oral penicillin in children with sickle cell anemia led to the development of a national sickle cell anemia screening program, which has become a staple of newborn
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