A new survey shows 55% of Black patients said they feel like they must be very careful about their appearance to be treated fairly at medical visits.

A trip to the doctor’s office comes with a bit of preparation for most, maybe even an internal pep talk to prepare for being told to get more exercise or calm a simmering fear of needles.

But dressing well in hopes of warding off unfair treatment – or even bracing for being insulted?

A newly released poll by KFF, a health policy research group, found many patients of color — including 3 in 5 Black respondents — take such steps at least some of the time when seeing a doctor.

The poll found that 55% of Black respondents said they feel like they must be very careful about their appearance to be treated fairly at medical visits. That’s similar to the rate for Hispanic and Alaska Native patients – and nearly double the rate for white patients.

  • GONADS125
    2•1 year ago

    I’m sure none of these healthcare workers think they’re being racist at all. It’s all played out at a subconscious level. Racism is so baked into society that most people who are being racist don’t even realize they’re being racist.

    You are so 100% correct. This is called implicit racism, and it permeates our society to a systemic level. Healthcare can be a good example, and the U.S. criminal justice system is the best example imo.

    One thing that really drives home the systemic implicit racism in this country are studies that have people rate black and white men on how strong/large/muscular and threatening they perceive them to be. The black men were perceived to be more threatening and that use of force was more likely to be viewed as justified. Black and white Americans both perceived the black men to be stronger, taller, and more muscular than their equal-sized white counterparts. Source

    Another study found that people view black boys as older than they are, and that they are more responsible for their actions than white boys, whose actions were more likely to be excused by the belief of childhood innocence. So our society essentially strips black boys of their perceived childhood innocence. Same Source