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“What would have happened if my parents did not have an oncologist-in-training as their daughter? What happens to the Black patients?”
These are key questions asked by Shekinah Elmore, MD, who wrote an essay about helping her father through his prostate cancer diagnosis. Medical racism is a problem in this country, and because of it, doctors did not initially empathize or treat Elmore’s father in a correct, respectful manner. But when Elmore arrived, the tones all changed.
Nearly everyone I know — who is Black with a doctor in the family — can relate. The minute I get my MD cousins on the line or in the video appointment with the doctor, everything about the appointment suddenly changes. The rounds last a little longer, the attending cuts you off a little less, doctors look you in the eye instead of barking orders and leaving.
Elmore speaks to all this and more.
“When the oncologist left, my mother looked at me and said, ‘Is that how doctors talk to each other?’ It was clear that she meant ‘with respect.’ I hung my head.”
