Medicine5

“My mother was often denied pain or not taken seriously. She was given the wrong medication during a hospital stay due to liver disease. Against her will and although she pointed this out several times. The side effects were very drastic, she lost a lot of weight, could no longer eat and had hardly any energy. Nevertheless, she was always told that she was exaggerating and that the treatment was the right one. Up to the point where her life was in real danger …”

Thieme.de (Alisha Qamar), 12.08.2020:"Black Lives Matter - Racism in the healthcare sector"

Interview partner:in Iman in an article by Alisha Qamar (2020). Alisha Qamar is a medical student in Bochum and an activist in the field of human rights, including with "The ONE Campaign".

Due to colonial continuities, Black people are still inadequately considered in medical care today and often receive poorer care. At that time, terrible acts of enslavement were justified and justified by the fact that black skin was supposedly thicker and more resistant to pain than white skin. Medicine is still influenced by this idea today. The scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" from the USA published an article on the unequal treatment of black patients back in 2016, stating that the majority of doctors prescribe less pain medication to black patients than to white patients (57% to 74%). The study by Staton et al examined the different perceptions of pain among patients by doctors. In the study, the underestimation of pain felt by black patients was 47%, compared to 33.5% for white patients. On average, black patients wait longer in the emergency room and their concerns are not taken seriously. (Thieme 12.08.2020) BIPOC are also exposed to stigmatizing diagnoses, such as the so-called Mongolian spot or Mediterranean disease. These stigmatizing diagnoses can sometimes have fatal or health-damaging consequences, as sometimes serious clinical pictures can be detected too late and preventive measures can only be taken inadequately(Ärztezeitung, 21.04.2015). This question of representation is closely linked to the fundamental issue of global inequality in the distribution of medical care, which has become particularly evident during the coronavirus pandemic.

*The New England Journal of Medicine (LaShyra Nolen), June 25, 2020:"How Medical Education Is Missing the Bull's-eye"

2020