DOCTOR BIGOT

     Is your doctor a bigot?  Is your physician prejudiced against you...because you are black...white...Hispanic...Asian...a Native American Indian...or a member of any other racial group?  Is your medical provider antisemitic - is he or she...a Jew hater?  Is the M.D. you are trusting to care for you...a homophobe - does he or she despise gays and lesbians?  Is the doctor you go to...not at all interested in helping you to better your health because you are overweight...or obese?  Do you have a suspicion that your general practitioner or specialist isn't giving you his or her full attention...and the best care or treatment...possibly because you're part of any minority...because you practice any religious faith... because your family heritage stems from any ethnic background...because you are a Democrat and he or she is a Republican...or visa versa...or for any political reason?  Is your surgeon or other medical healer not helping you because - for whatever the reason - you are in any large or small way...different from him or her?

     If the answer to any of the questions above...is yes...then you're not alone.  According to a variety of published reports - only a few of which I have referenced in this commentary - studies show that some doctors - and I do say only some - are similar to some other people in the world.  They can be bigots.  They can be prejudiced.  They can be haters.

     However...the American Medical Association's Code of Medical Ethics clearly prohibits doctors from refusing to treat patients because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason that is recognized by the laws of the United States of America...as discrimination.  But the AMA says that any physician may refuse to provide services if it opposes the doctor's "moral beliefs."  CNN has found that some doctors refuse to treat patients because the person's needs - as in the case of prescribing birth control - conflict with the physician's religious thinking.

     According to a survey by the University of California at San Francisco... some doctors won't treat certain minorities - including gay men - and that "personal bias affects attitudes."

     Studies from Yale University show that fifty percent of doctors find that obese patients are "awkward, ugly, weak-willed and unlikely to comply with treatment" and, therefore, many of these physicians will not treat individuals whose weight is - according to a word used in the survey..."repulsive."

     But unlike other people who you may associate with...your doctors are supposed to be caring for your health and well-being...and he or she - according to the laws of our land - should in no way judge you because of who you are...what you are...where you come from...or what you believe in.  

      All that being said...the Associated Press reports that some PATIENTS... refuse treatment...by a doctor or nurse...of another race or religion.  Unfortunately...and sadly...bigotry works both sides of the street.

     It's a shame that some doctors will ignore the needs you require medically because of a prejudice against you.  But it's equally a shame that some patients...are as ignorant...as some doctors.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

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