A new survey shows 55% of Black patients said they feel like they must be very careful about their appearance to be treated fairly at medical visits.

A trip to the doctor’s office comes with a bit of preparation for most, maybe even an internal pep talk to prepare for being told to get more exercise or calm a simmering fear of needles.

But dressing well in hopes of warding off unfair treatment – or even bracing for being insulted?

A newly released poll by KFF, a health policy research group, found many patients of color — including 3 in 5 Black respondents — take such steps at least some of the time when seeing a doctor.

The poll found that 55% of Black respondents said they feel like they must be very careful about their appearance to be treated fairly at medical visits. That’s similar to the rate for Hispanic and Alaska Native patients – and nearly double the rate for white patients.

  • lolcatnipEnglish
    6·
    7 months ago

    I was kind of shocked when I first learned that black patients have measurably better health outcomes when they have black doctors. Ideally I’d like doctors to just not be racist, but in practice I think training more black doctors is the best way to improve care for black patients. It still involves dealing with racism, but I suspect it’s easier to deal with it in medical education than in the whole medical profession.

    It really sucks that conversations like this are needed.