The Ongoing Struggle for Equity in Healthcare
Written by: an anonymous staff writer
Gender and racial inequalities continue to be persistent issues in the field of healthcare, despite efforts to address them. These inequalities impact the quality, accessibility, and affordability of care, as well as the health outcomes of individuals from marginalized communities.
This discrimination is largely caused by lack of diversity in the healthcare workforce. A study by George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health found that people of color, particularly Black, Latino, and Native American people, are severely underrepresented in the healthcare workforce, with little signs of improvement over the years (GW Today). While the United States is becoming increasingly diverse by each day, nearly 60% of physicians are white. Not only does this lack of representation potentially discourage young children of color from pursuing medical careers, but it also may lead to negative health outcomes for patients of color because of implicit bias or subconscious prejudices against them.
For women, many of whom already experience discrimination in their daily lives, medical bias can greatly change their outcome when seeking care for serious conditions, with “heart disease labeled as anxiety, an autoimmune disorder attributed to depression, or ovarian cysts chalked up to ‘normal period pain’” (Northwell Health). Several studies have shown that gender bias routinely leads to denial of medication and pain relief for serious health conditions. For example, “middle-aged women with chest pain and other symptoms of heart disease were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness compared with men who had the same symptoms” (Bever). In addition, it has been reported that women who went to the emergency room with severe stomach pain had to wait almost 33% longer than their male counterparts (Chen et al.). Overall, even when experiencing excruciating pain, women continue to be labeled as emotional, dramatic, or hysterical, with serious medical conditions often being attributed to psychological issues.
This is especially true for women of color, who often face barriers to accessing and receiving quality care or feel hesitant to reach out due to negative experiences with discrimination from healthcare providers. For example, research has shown that “Black Americans are consistently undertreated for pain relative to white patients” and it’s likely that “half of medical students and residents held one or more false beliefs about supposed biological differences between Black and white patients” (Hostetter and Klein). Another study by a team of researchers who followed over 48 thousand Black women over 22 years found that “those who reported experiencing interpersonal racism…had a 26% higher risk of coronary heart disease than those who did not” (Thurston). Dr. Shanshan Sheehy, Sc.D. of the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University and Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine speculates that "racism may act as a chronic stressor in the human body," which leads to high blood pressure and may increase the risk of heart disease (Lang). As such, it’s no surprise that over three quarters of Black Americans were hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic; from the Tuskegee Syphilis Study to the death of Henrietta Lacks, medical racism and discrimination is unfortunately a common experience for many (Kum).
In order to address these issues and improve equity in healthcare, it is essential to recognize that systemic barriers exist and work toward removing them. This includes increasing diversity in the healthcare workforce, developing training programs that emphasize inclusivity, and conducting research that takes into account the needs and experiences of individuals from marginalized communities. In doing so, we can make healthcare more accessible and create a system that provides high quality, culturally responsive care for all patients, regardless of their gender or race.
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