What I’m reading for Black History Month
February 16, 2024
It’s Black History Month, and I wanted to share some links to articles that I’ve been reading on health equity. I’ve included a podcast recommendation, too. All of these are available without a paywall.
Blackstock, U “At the private hospital, the disrespect was just more subtle. A tale of America’s two health care systems” The Guardian, January 23, 2024 LINK
This is an excerpt of Uché Blackstock’s new memoir, Legacy, A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in American Medicine, which I’ve just started reading. In this excerpt, she contrasts the experience of patients and of Black physicians like her at a safety net and a private hospital in New York City.
Ursha Lee McFarlane has written extensively in StatNews about racism in American medicine. Here are some of her articles that I find most compelling:
● Dermatology Faces Reckoning: Lack of Darker Skin in Textbooks Harms Patients of Color, StatNews, 2020 LINK
● ‘A target on my back’: New survey shows racism is a huge problem in nursing” StatNews, 2023 LINK
● In counties with more Black doctors, Black people live longer, ‘astonishing’ study finds, StatNews, 2023 LINK
● The whitest specialty: As medicine strives to close its diversity gaps, one field remains a stubborn outlier StatNews 2021 LINK
● Orthopedic surgeons pride themselves on fixing things. Can they fix their own field’s lack of diversity? StatNews 2021 LINK
DS Jones et al “Explaining Health Inequities: The Enduring Legacy of Historical Biases” New England Journal of Medicine, January 27, 2024 LINK
From the article:
American medicine has long accepted racializing narratives that propagate social perceptions about White superiority. Deliberate thinking and action are required to resist those narratives. We must decide carefully which policies and practices are justified — scientifically and ethically — as we contend with the nature and meaning of human differences.
Tobin MJ. Fiftieth Anniversary of Uncovering the Tuskegee Syphilis Study: The Story and Timeless Lessons. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 LINK .
Federal scientists explicitly withheld treatment for syphilis from Black men in Macon County Georgia from 1932 to 1972. This study was no secret – articles about it were published in JAMA from 1936 to 1973. Tuskegee is often used as a code word for why Blacks often mistrust the medical system; this article makes it clear why it’s so hard for our health care system to regain trust.
From the article:
Despite repeated accounts of the ravages of untreated syphilis, appearing in 15 articles in reputable journals spread over 37 years, no physician or scientist from anywhere around the world published a letter or commentary criticizing the ethics of the experiment.
Yoo, C, Families Emerge as Silent Victims Of Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment New York Times, May 1997 LINK (unlocked)
A clear account of the impact of this unthinkable medical experiment on generations of descendants of those who were denied appropriate medical care.
Not a reading -but here is a podcast suggestion, too:
Giving Birth While Black, podcast, The Stakes, WNYC (Kai Wright, 2019) LINK
I still remember where I was when I first listened to this podcast – and it helped me understand the dread that many people of color feel when they enter a health care system.
The documentary “Aftershock” available on Hulu (paywall) also shares tragic stories of preventable deaths of black mothers, and efforts to provide inclusive care that will save lives.
Send me a quick note (or reply to this post) about what you are reading (or listening to or watching) for Black History Month, and I’ll pass along additional suggestions later this month.
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Illustration by Dall-E