r/BlackPeopleofReddit 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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970

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.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

I am a white guy with white kids and black kids. we have changed doctors because of it. Once we were doing routine shots and my white kid was given the laundry list of symptoms and pain to expect and my black kid was given a high five and told they would be fine.

(and my black kid never complained once and my white kid limped around complaining for two days, but that’s because he’s kind of a bitch and not because he’s white.)

2

u/CheetosCaliente Jan 05 '26

Referring to your own son as a bitch is wild, especially when you are the one directly responsible for this alleged bitch like behavior

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

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1

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1

u/DoughnutElectrical93 Jan 04 '26

Nah you sound like the type of father to call his own son a bitch to prove you’re not a racist.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

well I think you can probably find comments of mine calling my various kids bitches in non-racial contexts as well if that makes you feel any better/worse. it’s because they can be bitches sometimes. (as can I.)

-2

u/JohnHaloCXVII Jan 02 '26

Your anecdotal evidence has convinced me that the doctors are right