Asian-American doctor says white nationalists refuse her care

[mfcorey1]

https://www.news4jax.com/news/national/asianamerican-doctor-says-white-nationalists-refuse-her-care

(CNN) - Dr. Esther Choo is an Asian-American emergency room physician who has practiced medicine for more than a decade. Yet, she says, a few times a year, a patient will refuse to let her treat them. Solely because of her race.

Choo, who works in Oregon, first shared her experience of dealing with racist patients who shun her care in a viral Twitter thread last Sunday.

"The conversation usually goes like this. Me: 'I understand your viewpoint. I trained at elite institutions & have been practicing for 15 years. You are welcome to refuse care under my hands, but I feel confident that I am the most qualified to care for you. Especially since the alternative is an intern.' And they invariably pick the intern, as long as they are white. Or they leave," she wrote in successive tweets.

"I used to cycle through disbelief, shame, anger. Now I just show compassion and move on," she added.

Choo's tweets, in which she noted that there were "a lot of white nationalists in Oregon," came a day after a counterprotester was killed following a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

And Choo's experience of intolerance is not unique in the medical community, she told CNN's Christi Paul on Saturday.

"What I'm hearing from my colleagues is that this is a daily occurrence for many of them, at least experiences of prejudice. The patient who outright refuses care is less common, but I definitely heard from a lot of people this week that they have also had that exact same experience," she said.

Patient prejudice towards doctors is now so common that many medical professionals "consider it a routine part of our jobs," Choo emphasized.

[Bladewire]

1. Survival of the fittest..

Let's hope their racism ended in their demise

[appleannie1943]

2. Just write "patient refuses care", have them sign it and walk out. Go give the best care possible

to someone that appreciates it while they sit wondering when someone is going to look at them.

[Warpy]

3. I've also seen POC refuse to be cared for by other POC

I saw it a lot in the 70s and 80s, not so much now. They'd mention Affirmative Action as the reason, thinking non white professionals somehow got a free ride in school. I couldn't lecture them, that's not what they were in the hospital for, but I'd have loved to tell them that AA would get you through the front door, but only brains, hard work, and talent would keep you inside and allow you to graduate.

[blueinredohio]

4. They must not be that bad or they would accept treatment from anyone

[dsc]

5. My dad worked in a clinic in the military (not as a doctor)

his boss in the clinic was a doctor trained at the University of Michigan who happened to be African American. Now this was the 1950's but all kinds of soldiers refused to have my dad's boss work in them in favor of having my dad do so (thing like taking blood, etc).

[hlthe2b]

6. One of my favorite MASH episodes is when a racist wounded serviceman asks

to make sure he gets the "right" blood. Trapper John and Hawkeye then paint him with mercurochrome to give him a black/brown tint when he wakes up and then proceed to treat him with all the stereotypes one can imagine extending a black person, including offering him fried chicken and watermelon. The only black nurse catches him after his first self glance and winks at him, giving him a thumbs up for "passing" for so long.

It was a good episode... Like many MASH episodes, it actually provided some education-- as the racist patient is informed about the African American origin of plasma separation and that the black doctor who had invented the procedure died after being refused life-preserving care at a white hospital.

To the point, though, I'd add that an awful lot of female doctors, dentists, and veterinarians have experienced similar from those wanting the "male" doctor.

Some day, maybe we will get past this ugliness and ignorance...

[CurtEastPoint]

13. I remember that episode!

[ret5hd]

7. Bust out laughing and say "Then lay here and die you fuckin' fool!"

[malaise]

8. I want a dying white nationalist to refuse an organ from someone of another

race or ethnicity.
I also think donors should have the right to refuse to share organs with racists and other bigots.

[fierywoman]

9. I would imagine that the same people would also reject Dr. Choo because she's a woman.

[VermontKevin]

10. Let Darwin work.

[Dreamer Tatum]

11. Fuck them. Let them suffer. nt

[dalton99a]

12. Let them go to Valhalla. Do not impede.

[Shrike47]

14. There are more and more Asian and other ethnicities doctors. Pretty soon they'll have no doctors to

Maybe they can die in the hall waiting for the white guy.

My doctor is a Filipina. My husband's doctor is a Native American.

[3catwoman3]

15. There are parents in the pediatric practice...

...where I work who refuse to let me see their children because I am a nurse practitioner, not a doctor. They have never even met me.

That is the closest I can come to relating to this.