THE DAY YOUR DOCTOR WON’T TREAT YOU IF YOU AREN’T THE RIGHT KIND OF PATIENT IS CLOSER THAN YOU MIGHT THINK. MARILYN SINGLETON, A BOARD-CERTIFIED ANESTHESIOLOGIST AND VISITING FELLOW AT DO NO HARM, STATED IN THE POST LAST WEDNESDAY THAT “WHEN I GRADUATED WITH A MEDICAL DEGREE IN 1973, A BLACK WOMAN IN A CLASS OF MOSTLY WHITE MEN, THERE WAS A REAL SENSE THAT THE DAYS OF OBSESSING OVER SKIN COLOR AND MAKING RACE-BASED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WAS FINALLY FADING — AND, HOPEFULLY, SOON GONE FOR GOOD. ” BUT THEN CAME THE LEFT’S PRESENT-DAY FIXATION ON RACIAL ISSUES: “THAT RACIAL OBSESSION HAS COME RUSHING BACK — IN ACADEMIA, POLITICS, BUSINESS AND EVEN IN MY BELOVED MEDICAL PROFESSION. BUT NOW IT’S COMING FROM THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. THE MALIGNANT FALSE ASSUMPTION THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE INHERENTLY INFERIOR INTELLECTUALLY HAS BEEN TRADED IN FOR THE MALIGNANT FALSE ASSUMPTION THAT WHITE PEOPLE ARE INHERENTLY RACIST.” AND THEREFORE LESS DESERVING OF MEDICAL TREATMENT.
