The white coat and doctor credentials aren't enough for some people to "recognize" a Black doctor. Dr. Meena K. Singh shares the reality and frustrations of being a physician of color.
As everyone can see from my photo; I am a young, female doctor…of color. Mocha-brown to be exact. Throughout my training, myself and other female doctors of color have exchanged stories of patients and other staff not realizing we were physicians or making inappropriate and sometimes abusive remarks.
Recently, some of my ‘sister-doc’ colleagues candidly shared similar, typical stories of what they continue to experience, which is what inspired me to write this article. Try to control the dismissive head shakes as you read:
“Walk in to see a new patient. After introducing myself, he said, “Well. I went from a [nurse] to a n----r. You know what you doing girl?”
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“Patient revived after cardiac arrest. While asking orientation questions (What's your name? Where are you?) She was asked who's the president. She said "a n-----r like my doctor"”
“5 [year old] white male in for a well-child tells me to put on gloves because he doesn't want dirty on his skin. This is after washing my hands. His mother attempts to cover it up, but he said "but you and daddy say all black people are dirty"”
“Yesterday I walked into a patients’ room and said "Hello I am doctor ---", He then asked "are you a doctor?", I responded "I am DOCTOR ---, How can I help you?"
“I love the initial look when you walk in the room and how much they LOVE LOVE LOVE you when you walk out:)!”
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“When I took a job in industry, my boss started to notice that the immediate response to the intro was "Is this your new admin?"...when I was an intern at Grady, a drunk white dude demanded to talk to the charge nurse… "someone who knows more than YOU!!!"
“Would go to offices with one of our device reps to do meet and greets, me in a suit, they're in their scrubs...and the docs walk right by me to shake the rep's hands. Then the rep has to say..."Have you met Dr. ---?"
“Last year, I had a white male drug rep ask if I was a PA, I nearly lost it he never approached me again! This would never happen to a white MD, then when started at new job had black and Hispanic clerks and maintenance worker ask if I was a new clerk, and I have an MD on my badge.”
“When I enter a patient's room…some patients assume I'm the CNA and ask me to change their brief, give them the bed pan, fill their water cup even after I have introduced myself "Hi I'm Dr.---, I will be your physician while you are here"!
“I was once with my Nigerian senior rounding on patients. The patient, an older person, saw us we introduced [ourselves] as doctors (me a doc in training at the time) were about to examine her. She says, " I would like the french toast". We looked at each other. My senior said, why are you giving us your breakfast order? She said aren't you from dining services? My senior said... No we're doctors. She said "Oh I'm sorry I thought you were here to take my order." He said, "really even with our white coats and stethoscopes?" She didn't say anything.”
“One night as the senior resident I was with my intern (Indian male) in July rounding. We introduced ourselves as Dr. X and Dr. Y. The parents started to speak with my intern. I gave the patient a sticker and Dad looked at me smiled and said to child "Tell the nurse thank you"”
“…when you're new on the floor and introduce yourself as Dr.---- along with the new white male doctor and the nurses refer to him as Dr. So-and-So but ask for your first name. #Doctor #walksaway”
“(from residency-wearing long white coat and stethoscope)…when they say "you're pretty for a colored girl, are you studying to be a nurse?" actually, I'm already a doctor, just training in Family Medicine...”
Personally, I have never had any preconceived notions of how a doctor should look, act or speak. My mother was one of the first African-American women to graduate from her medical school. Since I was raised with her influence and presence, it was similar to how my kids view presidents. They have only known Barack Obama as president. Therefore, they have no preconceived notions of what a commander-in-chief should look like.
Thus, the clearly racially-charged experiences that I have endured have been particularly disconcerting because I naively never expected it.
For example, when I was in training at the Mayo Clinic, myself and the two other young Black dermatologists in our program, literally had at least one patient daily express surprise when we walked in the room and then ask where we went to medical school. Thankfully, two of us could respond, “Harvard.”
That usually abruptly ended the line of questioning. Except for the one time when I said “Harvard” and the patient responded, “Well my niece is having trouble getting into medical school and she’s really smart…I bet being Black helped your application.” I guess Black folks can only get into medical schools like Harvard through Affirmative Action. One of the other doctors actually had a patient not believe he was a doctor, call the 'higher-ups' and demand to see his diploma.
One of the more baffling incidents for me was after the nurse (wearing maroon scrubs) roomed the patient; I walked into the room (wearing the mandatory Mayo business attire) and subsequently, introduced myself as “DOCTOR Singh”. I spent the next 30 minutes taking a detailed history, examining the patient, PERFORMING A BIOPSY!!, and discussing my impression. When I left the room, the man turned to the nurse and asked, “When is the doctor coming in?” *Extra deep sigh* No words…
I have no idea what patients are expecting to see when they book an appointment with a “Dr. Meena Singh”. However, I can safely assume that physicians who look anything like “Dr. McDreamy,” “Dr. House,” or “Dr. Jack Shepherd” are fortunate enough to not have to endure any of the above experiences.
Thankfully, shows like Grey’s Anatomy are now casting more physician roles with Black female actors. And of course, there is Disney's Doc McStuffins, which highlights a little Black girl playing doctor and her actual Black doctor mom. Hopefully, with more Hollywood influence and as the number of young, Black female physicians continues to increase, the stereotypical portrait of a patriarchal, white male physician fades.
With the current state of health care, being a practicing physician is difficult enough without having to deal with proving your competency, ‘despite’ your appearance.
Dr. Meena Singh is a board-certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon. She attended Harvard Medical School, trained at the Mayo Clinic, and completed a surgical fellowship in New York City, where she became trained in Mohs Micrographic Surgery, as well as cosmetic dermatology procedures, such as Botox, lasers, and fillers. She has numerous publications in many peer-reviewed dermatology journals, book chapters, and has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Singh is a reviewer for the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology and the Dermatologic Surgery Journal.
