A Shortage of Doctors?

A recent CNN headline — "We don't have enough doctors" — is quite accurate. The explanation given for the M.D. shortage is completely wrong.

CNN notes the "health-care workforce shortage is 'more acute' in Black and brown communities." The black community represents 13 percent of the U.S. population, but only 5.7 percent of American physicians are black. The implication is clear: only black doctors should or can treat black patients or, at a minimum, will treat them properly.

This is racist dogma. The vast majority of American doctors (and nurses) are blind to skin color, religion, ethnicity, and even criminal behavior. Real doctors treat each patient as a unique, valuable individual without regard to demographics. When Dr. Hugh Mighty, senior vice president at historically black Howard University, says, "As the problem of Black physician shortages rise ... many communities of need will continue to be underserved," he insults every white, brown, Asian, Native American, and black physician in this country.

A National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities report confirms racial inequalities for health outcomes. Minority populations are sicker, die earlier, and pose a huge economic burden compared to the white majority population.

When CNN or some government entity claims that such inequalities are due to providers' racist behaviors and shortages of black doctors, not only are they wrong; they divert attention from the real reason. Poor health is largely due to socio-economic factors such as poverty, poor education, limited availability of healthy foods, and inadequate access to care providers of any color.

CNN is completely off-base on why there is a severe and worsening doctor shortage. The real reason is morale.

Nurses and doctors used to be (note past tense) respected for their altruism and commitment to the individual patient. Patients welcomed doctors into their homes for house calls. Patients had faith in their chosen provider's training and judgment. Together, patient and chosen physician made personal, confidential medical decisions with no other (third) party involved.

Patients had a medical right to choose, and physicians had authority that corresponded with their responsibilities. Physicians' work used to be highly valued both by word and deed — i.e., compensation, especially after years of relative poverty in school and post-graduate training.

All of this has been lost, distorted, or destroyed.

Now, there is the presumption that when a patient does poorly, it is automatically the doctor's fault. Government warns patients not to trust their doctors by enforcing clinical guidelines, algorithms, and crisis standards of care to "protect" the patient from the doctor.

I could’ve sued every doctor my wife and I have seen (for good cause) but chose not to for several reasons. Doctors are more interested in their licences and litigation mitigation than caring for the patient. As a result, they harm patients. They’re too scared to doctor anymore. They do cookbook diagnosis and treatments erring on the conservative side to the detriment of the patient. They don’t listen to the patient and history. Our medical industry is in a free fall and all the while technological advances are being made but mostly for naught.

Let’s see: I have a Filipino-American Cardiologist, who replaced my retired Cuban-American Cardiologist. I have a Peruvian-American Urologists of Italian heritage. I have two Oncologists, one is Scottish-American and the other is Cuban/Mexican-American.
Well my Primary care doctor is from Ohio. She replaced the guy from East Africa.
What I think is, we have plenty of doctors, the problem is the United States does not raise doctors anymore. We have to import them

You change the work environment; it changes individuals’ choice of career to enter. It also changes existing physician retirement choices. The government geniuses believed they could make substantial changes in the healthcare system and the physician supply would remain constant. Unfortunately, there is never any accountability for stupid mistakes not even in the recorded history since the government geniuses control the historical record.

I've never heard of such ridiculous claims. Health care workers are in the front lines of society. They would not last long if they predicated the treatments which they administer based upon ethnic or religious attributes of their patients.

I have the highest regard for healthcare workers. However candy ass "journalists" and pensters and the "news" media rate at the bottom of my charts. Even lower than car salesmen.

see the problem with the goverment being involved is people need to be more discerning about what the dr’s are pushing.

as an aside: i worked doing direct patient care in hospitals in the 70’s and early 80’s, them moved into health insurance side in the 90’s.

up until the time of the jug eared magic negro and his wonderkind health care for all!! we still had faith in dr’s

as for me i do research on everything the dr’s tell me i need done, or knowing my past medical history i can request studys done.

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