Sick/Not Sick: Intuition, Racism, and Seeing Sickness in Medical Training

• In Event: Black Feminist Health Science Studies: Exploring New Possibilities

Abstract

Disparities in Black women’s health have recently caught the attention of mainstream media outlets with tennis star Serena Williams’ nearly fatal lung clot shortly after childbirth and model/actress Kim Porter’s sudden death the day after contacting her doctor to report that she was still not feeling better following weeks of flu-like symptoms. The fates of these celebrities highlight the disturbing realization that no level of financial security, educational attainment, or social status could mitigate the toxic effects of the intersecting systems of oppression, sexism and racism. While decades of health research has illuminated how even when socioeconomic differences are accounted for, the quality of health care one receives is determined by race, much less discussed is the fundamental role medical education plays in perpetuating these heath disparities. This paper explores this aspect of the hidden curriculum in medical education using a Black feminist approach to interrogate three scenes in clinical training. How do doctors learn to discern who is sick, and thus deserving of urgent medical attention, and who is not sick? I argue that race colors this process in ways that are rarely openly addressed, but that have deadly effects on Black women in particular.

Author

• Adeola Oni-Orisan, UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley