DH and I were having a conversation a while back, and I happened to mention that I had an appointmnet with my OB, whose patients refer to as Dr. first-letter-of-last-name. Dh asked what his name was and I told him, and he asked where he was from. I told him that he was from Colombia and went on with my day. Later on, as I was talking about an appointment with my neurologist, I again referred to her by name, and also her DH, who is my cardiologist (and was one of the best preceptors I had). He asked where they were from, which is Lebanon. My GI guy is from India.
DH, who only sees a doc if dying or dragged in, commented, "Why can't you go to an AMERICAN doctor?"
Well, both my PCP and my dentist are American. My NEW OB is American (switched d/t the other guy not delivering at our hospital).
I work for a cardiology group. One doc is American, the other from Peru. Both are excellent docs and great people to boot. This came up in consult last week.
I went to see a patient and told her which doc would be seeing her along with me. We refer to the doc from Peru by the first letter of his last name as well, as his name is quite long, and can be mangled in some very interesting ways by patients. She replied, "I don't want a doctor whose name I can't pronounce!"
This fries me. Does anyone else deal with this? I just think it is so short-sighted. My docs that I work for are great, I'd let them work on ME, and that is the highest compliment I can give anyone.
I thought that by 2010, we would have come far enough that we could realize that other countries have talent, not just America. Some, if not most of our hospitalists here are from Africa, and they are as good as you would hope to find anywhere. But you have patients who come in and don't want them because they are Black. I tell you, if you're taking care of me, I don't care if you're green with purple stripes.
Sorry for the rant. It just got to me today. I'm in the Deep South, so maybe feelings run hotter here about this, but do y'all have issues with this anywhere else? How is it managed? How do they respond? Just curious. Thanks.
I never cared what a physician's nationality was, but I have been bothered by their ability/inability to communicate. Seriously, when a dr gets angry with me because I ask him to repeat himself due to the heavy accent, it annoys me quite alot. Otherwise I don't care if he is Scotch-Korean and wears a kilt like the skittles commercial, as long as he knows what the heck he's doin'.
Oh your story makes me think of something of my childhood. I loved dolls. Had a huge collection. There were no african americans in our hometown. I had a black baby doll. There were never any racial slurs in my home when I was growing up. I realize now how lucky I was when the vast majority of the people living in our community were extremely racist.
When my daughter was in preschool at my college, she's now 11, she asked me one day, "Why she could not have pretty dark skin like" her friend so and so. It was so sweet.
On the opposite side, my younger sister told me she would not vote for Obama because, "He is black". My jaw dropped to the floor.
Yes, it is soo sad people cannot realize we are all the same inside.
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
I grew up in a very raciall biased family. I am quite the anomaly, as I am not prejudiced. Several family members continue to use slurs, and I continue to call them out over it.
I remember in college, having my aunt pull me off to the side and ask if I was dating a Black guy, as someone told her they had seen me hugging one. Well, yes, I hugged him, he was a good friend. The security guards at the hospital I used to work at were all Black males, and but for one were built like linebackers. They would pick me up off the ground and give me great big bear hugs. I loved them all to death. One day, my GF had to go to the ER, and that was where the security guards were based. Two of my buddies were there that day, I'll call them Lenny and George. Both came out when they saw me, asked what was wrong (I was in my civvies and not my scrubs, so they knew it was not work), and then both gave me big hugs and told my family to let them know if we needed anything.
After they walked off, one of the family that was with us hissed at me, "Don't you ever do that again! People will get ideas about you!"
Now, having been married for 7 years to a man who is as lily-white as I am, and with the whole of the hospital KNOWING that, I wasn't too worried. I'm real friendly by nature, and I'm a big hugger, so no one there would even notice. My DH doesn't care, just shakes his head and mutters about how I must know everyone in the **** county. I have friends, and I don't base our friendship on color or nationality. I still hug my boys (and yes, they know I call them that) every time I see them, and will continue to do so until I lose my arms.
I completely understand, Angelfire! I am from the Deep South and the majority of my family is prejudice against anyone who is not white, straight, American, and Catholic. I am the polar opposite and could care less about someone's race, color, nationality, sexual orientation or whatever criteria people impose. It is hard, and I always fear that I might be judged by things my family might say. I try to speak up about it, but it is not always easy. Especially with my in-laws, who use racial slurs in everyday conversation.
Any tips on dealing with it without causing a family WWIII?
I am african, when i first moved to the US, I lived in MD. NJ, NY for a while before I moved down south. I noticed up north People rarely spoke of being discriminated against. Here, in GA every little thing is "bcos am black", every thing is about color and race, and it irks me.
You get fired from a job/dissmissed from nursing school etc not because you are black but because you are not performing up to par.
It goes both ways. About 15 years ago, I needed outpatient surgery and my PCP referred me to surgeon X. "You'll like him, he's from Hyperion" my PCP said. My PCP knew I was born and raised on Hyperion (substitute for another country) and assumed that would make me find this sx to be a god sent. I had a consultation with this surgeon and immediately knew there was no way I'd let him do my sx. Instead, I found my own surgeon who was from yet another country. The outcome, BTW, was excellent.
A little off topic again, but it saddens me so much that things are still this way in the south. One of the main reasons I would never live there, no offense to you southerners. I'm so glad you speak up when you hear ignorant comments, Angelfire, especially in your own family. I know doing so can be dicey. However, perhaps I have my own form of prejudice going on, because I consider such people who make those sort of comments to be uneducated, small-minded and less than intelligent. Such is life, I guess.
I wish I had a more culturally diverse selection of doctors. All of mine are white. Oh, wait. My ophthalmonologist is Asian. Great guy. He's the only non white doctor I've ever had.
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
To answer, I don't keep it from being WWIII with my family. We like to bicker. They have their take I have mine, it has never and will never gel, and that's just the way it is. Sometimes ignorance can't be taught.
I live in the "south" and spent some of my childhood here. I have also lived in Texas (not really south), California, Colorado, Ohio, Mass., NY, VA (beltway), MD.
Racism exists everywhere. In the midwest there is a lack of minorities where I lived. In NY....NYC more specifically, races self-segregate -> it is harder to see the racism when they don't come to your neighborhood! It was talked about, but I never actually saw it. What angers me the most is racism is interpreted by many in this country as whitey hating any people of color. What I see MORE of is the reverse! People of color hating a person solely because they are white. My 2nd daughter's school is a majority black. When she supported McCain she was called a racist and immediately alienated by what had been her black friends. When she asked them why they supported Obama, not one could cite a position. They admitted they supported him because he was black. (How is that not racism?) My youngest dates a black young man. He is a joy! He also wears pants that fit, Nascar logo's, john deere logo's, hunts and loves pickups! She and this young man get the evil eye whereever they go. He is called names.....oreo cookie for one.
I try and befriend my black neighbors and they look at me like I have 2 heads! Geez.
Also - I HATE PCness....and I use the term 'black' because one of my daughter's best friends HATES the term African American. He is black but is not African, he is Jamaican (sp?) and resents the term!
Xenophobia....that mean you have an IRRATIONAL FEAR of anyone not like yourself. Same with HOMOphobia, etc. These terms are thrown around as an attack so that people fear not being PC. The reality is that I HATE calling a customer service because I cant understand them through their accent. Has nothing to do with them or their race. I am disgusted that they have jobs in a foriegn land for an American company while my own children have trouble finding employment - even at minimum wage. Grad Nurses can't get work while the hospitals are STILL crying nursing shortage and getting permission from the federal gov't to get "qualified" nurses from overseas.
I have a hard time distinguishing a prophet who states that his followers are to honor their God by executing anyone who is an Infidel (aka: not muslim) and then hear them say that they are a religion of peace. I have a hard time believing that a man who went to a church that teaches parishoners that whitey hates them and that we introduced HIV to eliminate them.....didn't hear it and wasn't affected. These are RATIONAL concerns not irrational fears and therefore do not qualify for any "phobia".
We in the south do not "cling to our guns and religion" because we are uneducated neophytes. (that is racism and cultural bigotry) We enjoy OUR culture and just because we don't like Opera or want to pay $150 a ticket to go to a broadway play doesn't make us un-cultured. Most southerners are Christians of MANY denominations and most of those, protestant. From my experience, I see many southerners of ALL races trying to live a life in conformity with their religious beliefs, whereas when I lived elsewhere, religion was for sunday and holidays.
Just because I don't agree with someone else does not make me a bigot or a racist or any other name.... just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean I have to force my opinion down your throat or have justification to call you a derrogatory name.
Nowhere in the constitution did the first amendment guarantee us freedom from feeling offended.
My first OB was Vietnamese. He was the doc, his wife the OM and his daughter the RN. They all had accents, but could be understood fairly easily. If he even feared that I might not have understood something he printed something for me to read. At my 6 wk check he was near tears. He told me that he was so grateful to have had me as a patient...see I was his first non-Asian patient and since then he has a practice full! (I recommended him to everyone!) He said that he now felt that he had finally made it in this country.
When we all choose to be the best we can be....when we succeed because we can....when we accept responsibility for ourselves and the outcome that is our lives and teach others to do so and to stop talking about everything as if it were based on race....then we will have finally arrived.
Disco_Superfly
25 Posts
I never cared what a physician's nationality was, but I have been bothered by their ability/inability to communicate. Seriously, when a dr gets angry with me because I ask him to repeat himself due to the heavy accent, it annoys me quite alot. Otherwise I don't care if he is Scotch-Korean and wears a kilt like the skittles commercial, as long as he knows what the heck he's doin'.