Racism in Medicine: Shifting the Power

Abstract

Medicine has historically been a field where the provider of the service (physician, nurse) has a significant amount of power as compared with the recipient of the service (the patient). For the most part, this power is relatively consistent, and the power dynamic is rarely disrupted. In this essay, I share a personal experience in which a racist rant by a patient seemingly reverses the power dynamic. As the physician, I faced the realization that I may not have as much power as I believed, but fortunately I had some tools that allowed for my resilience. It is my hope that this paper will strengthen other family physicians and professional minorities that are victims of racism, discrimination, and prejudice for their race, sex, ability, sexual orientation, religion, and other axes of discrimination.