Racism in medicine | DW Documentary
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Published 2024-02-21
This documentary hears from people who’ve been turned away or received inadequate care in a medical emergency; from midwives who report on racism in the delivery room; from students who criticize teaching according to white norms; as well as from doctors who reflect on the problem.
The film shows just how dangerous conscious or unconscious racism in the healthcare sector can be. Its findings are based on the results of the first representative study on the issue in Germany, published in November 2023 by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research.
The fact is: Even today, the term ‘Morbus Mediterraneus’ still circulates in the healthcare sector, which is intended to describe "exaggerated suffering in southerners". Standard medical equipment doesn’t always function reliably when used on dark-skinned patients. And many doctors have never learned that some diseases can be diagnosed differently depending on whether the person is Black or White. The medical norm, even in textbooks, is still the white, western European patient. This can result in misdiagnosis and the serious worsening of symptoms.
Take the case of Remziye T. from Lower Saxony: Her infected heart valve went undiscovered for a long time because doctors didn’t take her pain seriously enough. When the problem was eventually correctly diagnosed, it was too late for medical treatment. Now Remziye T. has to live with a mechanical heart valve: the operation has left her unable to walk properly and she is no longer able to work.
Dr. Bismarck Ofori allowed the camera team to film in his Hanover surgery. Many of the patients who attend the Black doctor’s practice have a migrant background. They tell him they’ve not been taken seriously in other surgeries; some of them were even brusquely turned away. In Ofori’s treatment room, it’s evident that careful diagnosis and overcoming language barriers in the process costs time and money. Not that language is the only obstacle to making a correct diagnosis. The pulse oximeter, for example, a device used to measure the blood’s oxygen content, can be less accurate when used on patients with darker skin. But this is not systematically taught at medical school.
The healthcare system is only just beginning to unpack the issue of racism and its impact. But many doctors, medical students, midwives and a medical historian have spoken out - addressing a problem that, in the worst-case scenario, can have fatal consequences.
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All Comments (21)
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The saddest thing is the people who practice this kind of hatred don't even watch documentaries likes this.
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Ghana 🇬🇭 Doctor Bismark Ofori taking care of business and doing the right thing for the people discriminated against. Kudos Doc ✌🏿👏🏿🙏🏿🇬🇭
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Thank you for that African doctor. The only thing that will change is more Africans taking charge and being the support for the community.
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I have learned German for several months due to I wanted work as a medical doctor there. I changed my mind when I realised the massive scale of racism and discrimination in Germany.
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Personally, I’ve not been to a German hospital in 4 years but I had an ugly experience when my friend fell ill. She was told she was pretending and that there’s no pain. Later she was kept on pain killers for 5 days and told to go home. It was a friend, an African pharmacist who saw her in pain at my house, that prescribed a medication that eventually stopped the pain. It was a fucking ulcer yet she was kept in the hospital for 5 days with nothing.
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As an asian brazilian woman, it was horrible to go through the pandemic in Germany. I was mistreated at clinics starting from the secretaries.I prayed every day I would not get covid, because I would be left to die by those racists doctors and hospitals.
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With the history of Germany, as a society there should be extra ordinary awareness of racism.
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I once lived in Alberta in Canada for a few years. We had an African family doctor. That doctor was the best.
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The other day the lady at the University Hospital in Bonn, behaved so rudely just because I couldn't speak English. I got the appointment waiting for 3 months and they clearly said, "we speak English as well". How do you turn down patients just because someone couldn't speak your language? And she said, "What are you doing in Germany?". It wasn't very comfortable but that is how 95 percent of the people are. Language cannot be a barrier when it comes to giving you treatment right?
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Hating on and mistreating a person based on their skin colour just shows how pathetic we humans can be.
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This happened to me as a black man in America. The nurse will often ignore me for hours stating they have other patients to help. Who am I? Your cow 😂
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I lived in Hungary for 2 years and I experienced so much racism that I'm afraid of going back to Europe.
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As a South African in England i was scared that i would die under the care of white doctors, i had a white midwife and she was horrible. I refused to be under her care throughout my pregnancy, which is dangerous but rather that than enduring abuse. First doctor white man was so cold and dismissive. Luckly i was transferred to a South African male doctor and an Indian female doctor. Had the best delivery, thank God for those lovely doctors. Africans abroad, ask for African or Indian doctors don't bother with racists.
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Normal in German, when someone complain they always use the words "it was a misunderstanding " Missverständnisse
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The saddest of all is the fact that only victims will watch such documentaries I swear 😢
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Native & Black women in the US need their own maternity hospitals. Babies 👶 are dying at an alarming rate.
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Professional ethics that used to be the epitome of the medical profession have been gradually lost...😢
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What surprises me is that, when am watching documentaries about white people visting Africa,,,,, they are given a warm welcome... Helped, treated with respect... African, black people we have endured so much racism...
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No need to blur out that hospital, anyone living in Hannover knows it 😭😭. Such a shame that patients are turned away
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I am a medical student in Uganda, with a dream to do my master's and PhD in Germany. This is so hope-dampening!
