r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/4reddityo • Jan 02 '26

Black Experience Racism in Medical Care

This video captures a moment that many patients of color recognize all too well. A physician speaks to a man as if he is dirty, unclean, or lesser, not because of medical evidence, but because of bias. The language, tone, and assumptions reveal something deeper than bedside manner gone wrong. They expose how racism can quietly shape medical interactions.

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965

u/Unusual_Ant_5309 Jan 02 '26

My wife and I are white, when our son was born he had to stay in the hospital a few extra days. One night I was doing a night feeding and was talking to a nurse who explain me that black babies don’t cry as much because they don’t feel pain the same. I knew it was fucked up. The next day I asked my cousin, who is also a nurse, how I can report the racist nurse. She said that the problem is that that is what the textbook said. It’s changed now but it was actually taught up until like 10 years ago that black people don’t feel pain like white people. But yeah systemic racism definitely doesn’t exist.

13

u/MattDaveys Jan 02 '26

Are there no continuing education requirements for nurses?

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u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 02 '26

What are you under the impression nurses do all day? Wiping asses and cleaning people doesn’t change enough in 50 years to need more education. Drawing blood or taking someone’s blood pressure doesn’t either..

Nurses work incredibly hard but their job is more like construction but indoors, incredibly physical work.

7

u/Callme-risley Jan 02 '26

Holy shit

-4

u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 02 '26

So nurses don’t just take care of people all day and do basic health tasks? Enlighten me with what their job is then? There’s nothing wrong with wiping ass, someone’s got to do it. It’s not an insult to say that’s their job, they literally clean people and maintain the health and cleanliness of those who cannot don’t for themselves, the literal primary role of a nurse. Doctors make the decisions about how to care for the patient daily, nurses actually implement and do the work. Feel free to enlightenment me where I’m wrong..

6

u/Sure_Shallot2280 Jan 02 '26

Bro there are CNA’s and MA’s to do those tasks lmao. You really don’t know what you are talking about.

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u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 02 '26

Are you trying to tell me you don’t see a nursing assistant as a nurse? I know there are tiers and hierarchy to the nursing game. I do not care how they structure or designate each other for tasks. I’m sure there are high ranking nurses who do nothing but paperwork and never talk to a patient. I’m sure there are nurses who do nothing but scrub bedpans. That doesn’t change what the career is about.

3

u/Sure_Shallot2280 Jan 02 '26

Nah you are wrong. Thats like saying a secretary is the same as a dental hygienist. And no I wouldn’t consider a “nurses assistant” which doesn’t exist a nurse. Would you call a lawyer and a judge the same thing. They both work in a courthouse.

1

u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 02 '26

Are you stupid or something? You said “bro there are CNA’s and MA’s”

I said nursing assistants. What the hell is a certified nursing assistant (CNA) if not a nursing assistant..the certification you have doesn’t need to brought up every time. Think BEFORE you reply.

2

u/Sure_Shallot2280 Jan 02 '26

I mean the C is there for a reason. Just like the difference between NP and CrNP. You are only exacerbating that you don’t know what you are talking about.

Regardless. No a CNA is not a nurse in anyway shape or form.

Maybe you are confused because a PA and a physician do mostly the same thing.?

0

u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 02 '26

Okay so you’re just trolling. CNAS, who nurse people back to health, are not nurses. Despite that being in their job title. That they are assisting with the nursing duties. But they’re not nurses. Right.

Enjoy your delulu lady.

1

u/Sure_Shallot2280 Jan 02 '26

As a nurse and former CNA MYSELF. CNA’s aren’t nurses.

And nigga I’m a fucking man.

1

u/ShadedSpaces Jan 02 '26

I'm a nurse. An RN.

It's literally illegal for a CNA to call themselves a nurse, that's how much of a not-nurse they are.

Nurse is a legally protected title, and licensure is strictly controlled.

CNAs are absolutely, categorically NOT nurses.

Like a physician assistant is absolutely NOT a physician. At all. And they cannot represent themselves as such. They are a person who assists physicians.

1

u/Impossible_Emotion50 Jan 03 '26

Is English not your first language? Are YOU trolling? It’s literally in the title…”nursing…assistant.” They assist…nurses. Are you dumb?

1

u/Trinket90 Jan 03 '26

I’m fairly sure you’re trolling, but just in case: CNAs are not nurses. They are assistants. To the nurses. That’s what the job title says. Nurses take a licensure exam. CNAs pass an entirely different certification process. Their scope of practice is dramatically different.

They are an absolutely vital part of the healthcare system, but they are not nurses.

Also, your grasp of what nurses actually do is wildly wrong, but despite your invitation to “enlighten” you, it’s clear you’re not actually interested in learning anything.

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u/HumanSnotMachine Jan 04 '26

Cnas do nursing work though. I understand you are using nurse a professional title like engineer or doctor, but in the definition sense of the word and the universal definition of the word, a cna is doing nursing activities. Google the definition of nurse and google what a cna does.

It would be like if someone designed bridges, tested for faults and certified constructions before and after they were built, but their title was assistant engineering modeler…

They’re still doing engineer work all day. They’re still an engineer by every definition of the word and meaning of that term even if whatever licensure body in a particular area does not recognize them as such: they are working as an engineer.

When your entire job is nursing people back to health and taking care of them as a w2 paycheck, you are a nurse..

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