How Science Has Been Tainted by Racism - Coursework Example

RACISM IN THE HEALTHCARE FIELD by + How Science Has Been Tainted by Racism in Comparison to the Equality BroughtAbout by Religion Introduction Religion and its reasoning are based on faith, while science and scientific reasoning are based on reason and rationality. Over time, there have been conflicts between faith and rationality because of some differences on issues that affect the people. Faith is the belief of an individual in inspiration, revelation, and authority. On the other hand, the basis of rationality is evidence. Rationality could also be based on the level of evident warrant. Before people started believing in faith, the majority of them were deep rooted into faith. More so, some of the greatest thinkers who have advanced the ideologies of science were once very devoted in faith. However, most of them started preferring science to faith because science gave them an opportunity to investigate facts while faith did not give room to investigate the facts. Faith demands that an individual believes without questioning facts and evidence while science gave room for questioning. Due to this, some people have opted to believe in science rather than religion. Another reason a good number of people are supporting science of religion is the belief that the science cannot be corrupted, while faith can be easily corrupted. As explained earlier, faith has an aspect of believing in an individual while science has the aspects of reasoning and evidence. Due to this, an individual who is believed can corrupt faith, while it would be hard to corrupt reasoning and evidence, which is the prerequisite of corrupting science. Despite this, religion is among the greatest champions of science. Racism, which is the unfair treatment of people that belong to a different ethical background and race, has been a major impediment to science. As much as there has been a long conflict between science and religion, religion has been in the frontline in making sure that the medical practice is boosted. However, racism has been a major impediment to the success of medical practice. This essay looks at the impact that racism has had on science, specifically in the medical practice. Historically Racist Medicinal Practices Over time, medical examinations have been conducted using human beings as subjects. Some vulnerable people in the society, such as children and women have been used in the past for medical experiments, without consenting to them. While doing tests for the benefits of medicine, professionals have subjected African Americans to tests that are very brutal. One of the oldest cases of racism in the healthcare industry is a case of John Fred Brown. In the year 1855, Fred had escaped from slavery and visited a white doctor to seek some assistance. The doctor produced deep blisters into the body of Fred, saying that he wanted to determine the depth of his skin. Considering that this test has no therapeutic advantage, there was no need of doing it. It was inspired by a fascination about the appearance of African Americans since some people believed that they had a deeper skin than the whites. Such medical trials were conducted to determine the depth of the skin, an act that is wrong. Medical practitioners have been shielding white people from experiments that have proven to be powerful. Marion Sims, who was a leading physician and also was at some time the president at the American Medical Association, came up with a number of gynecological treatments after conducting powerful experiments of women who had worked as slaves. He conducted these tests without their consent and did not even put them on anesthesia. Despite his lack of recognition for the need to seek consent, or his lack of pity to his subjects, he is considered as a modern doctor who has made a lot of effort in ensuring the health of women.1 In the 20th century, there was gross infringement of the rights of black people and their bodies by medical practitioners who argued that they were conducting research. In the year 1945, an African American called Ebb Cade was working as a Trucker when he was involved in an accident in Tennessee. Ebb was taken to hospital for treatment, where he was placed in a radiation experiment that had been sponsored by the atomic energy commission of the United States. In the 1950s, the US army would release mosquitoes infected with yellow fever to black who lived in Florida, so they could determine the effect that this would have during the war. During the 1960s, dermatologists from the University of Pennsylvania used inmates at the Holmesberg prison in Philadelphia to conduct experiments without seeking their consents. They tested for pharmaceuticals that are used for personal hygiene, where some inmates reported pains and discomfort when they used these products. In the 1970s, neurologists from the University of Mississippi used black boys to test for the causes of hyperactive behavior in children. Dr. Thomas Hamilton was another doctor that is widely described as having violated the rights of African Americans while doing his tests. He put people in pits, covered them leaving their heads out, and heated the pits to determine how long a person could withstand heat. His intention was to determine whether his slaves could work well under the intense heat in Georgia. In Tuskegee, a syphilis study was conducted to test for the development of the disease in the human body. Researchers infected more than 400 African Americans with the disease and used them for the study. Most of them were left without treatment, after the study that went on for 40 years. In the 1970s, African Americans were also forced into sterilization and other birth control methods without their consent. Racism in the Health Care Practice Today Currently, racism is not a major concern in the healthcare industry. This is not isolated in the healthcare industry. All industries have experienced the breakthrough. African Americans, Hispanic speakers, and whites are treated equally, without discrimination. According to two polls that have been released in the United States, blacks and white receive the same healthcare. There has been a tremendous improvement on research, as well, since consent is sort before any tests are conducted. In the development of healthcare, blacks have benefited from the recent advancement before whites in some cases. For example, the first successful artificial heart transplant was to a black, something that shows how blacks and the plight of black people in the healthcare have been promoted. Despite the pools proving that racism is non-existence in the healthcare industry, there is a major challenge of unconscious biases. Unconscious bias is where people have some negative stereotypes about others from a different race, something that forces them to treat these people differently although they honestly do not mean it. According to the American Journal of Public Health, two out of every three doctors have been found to have unconscious bias towards patients from other races. One issue that has arisen, related to unconscious bias, is that an increased number of medical practitioners have been accused of not being considerate of the psychological needs of their African American patients. When dealing with African American patients, these medical practitioners have been accused of not paying enough attention, and failing to meet the psychological needs of the patients. These patients feel that they have not been involved in making important decisions related to their health. One major misconception about African Americans is that they do not mind their health and that they live risky lives. In most cases, when they visit a health professional with such a misconception, they will receive a different psychological service as a white, who is believed t be very careful about their health2. Although there are instances where African Americans have had a breakthrough the medical advancement, there are others where they are yet to make a mark. For instance, whites are more likely to receive better services than African Americans, especially on the aspects that recently developed in the industry. One such aspect is in coronary artery disease. Despite it being a leading cause of death across the world, there is sales chance that an African American will undergo coronary artery bypass surgery than a white is. This is because the utilization of the procedures for this medical treatment is not utilized to take advantage of it. Other medical programs where African Americans are disadvantages are dialysis, and transplant of kidneys. Now, more whites go through this process, than Hispanic and African Americans who are affected, more whites are also put on the waiting list3. The institute of medicine was launched by the congress, to give unbiased and authoritative guidance to the public, as well as advice, before decisions regarding the health care were made. This institute was would help the government, together with the stakeholders in the private sector to make informed decisions, and to provide evidence that the stakeholders would apply to improve healthcare4. Despite this not having advanced effects as conscious bias, unconscious biases have hindered people from different ethnicities from receiving quality health care services. Preventing Racial Bias in Health Care Although there is strong evidence that there are both racial and ethnic differences in the healthcare industry, corrective measures have remained elusive over time. Conscious racism, where one held prejudice over other people because of their ethnicity or race is no longer an issue in the healthcare industry. However, strong evidence has shown that some people have negative stereotypes against people of certain races, although these are without their conscious knowledge. Professionals in the healthcare industry can eradicate unconscious bias by encouraging individualism. This is where, when analyzing the traits of an individual, you look at their personal characteristics rather than those of their ethnic group. Generalization is the biggest cause of unconscious bias, because often people from ethnical backgrounds are said to reflect the traits of the majority in that group. However, this is not the case in all instances. Practitioners in the healthcare industry can facilitate individualism could if they ignore pressure from an external environment, and concentrate on their assessment of the case. This will help them avoid the influence of negative stereotyping, and concentrate on making an opinion about an individual based on their assessment of that individual5. The survey was conducted by on students before they joined the medical school, where the findings were that they implicitly preferred white patients, especially those in the upper levels of income. However, when a vignette-based assessment was conducted, there was no sufficient prove to show that there was any preference due to race, occupation, or any other implicit preferences6. If this could be applied in the real world, where professional are given vignette-based platforms to assess their patients, this could help reduce the chances that there will be unconscious racial prejudice. Improving the psychological confidence of healthcare providers to work with people of prejudiced races could also help reduce unconscious racism. In some cases, healthcare providers have had a very bitter experience with people from a certain race, something that could affect their opinion about people of the same race. If they could be psychologically motivated to get over these events, they will provide unbiased care to people of these races. Creating positive emotions among healthcare givers and their patients could help reduce negative ethnic bias, by creating a good relationship between patients and healthcare givers. This also helps in enhancing the relationship between healthcare providers and their patients, something that I an important aspect in making sure that effective care is given. Conclusion Racism is the treatment of people from other ethnicities in an unfair manner, solely due to their ethnicity. Overtime, racism has not been as widespread in religion as it has been in science, since religion has clear spelled out guidelines that do not allow unfair treatment of any persons. However, in science, racism has been widespread since people have had evidence to prove that people of other races are inferior to those of some races. According to Galatians chapter 3-verse number 28, the bible says that all people are one, that there is no difference between people from different races or ethnicities. In the book of acts, Peter mentioned how God has no partiality, that all those who fear him should do this as well. From these, it is clear that Christianity does not condone racism. In science, especially in the medical practice, professional have had evidence to prove that people of certain races are inferior to those of other races. However, conscious ethnic prejudice is on the decline, but unconscious ethnical prejudice has remained high. In the past, conscious racial prejudice has had negative impacts on African Americans, who have been used in medical experiments without their consent. Unconscious ethnical prejudice has also affected them, where it has hindered them from receiving quality services. This can be eradicated by encouraging individualism, where people view a person based on their individual characteristics, rather than those of their ethnic group. From this analysis, it is clear that the science has been negatively affected by ethnicity. Africa Americans have been on the receiving end of negative ethnicity for a long time. However, religion, viewed as a major hindrance to science, is among the aspects that have helped promote the healthcare industry. Bibliography Ahrq.gov,. Minority Health: Recent Findings | Agency For Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ). Last modified 2009. Accessed November 27, 2014. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/minority/minorfind99/index.html. Burgess, Diana, Michelle van Ryn, John Dovidio, and Somnath Saha. Reducing Racial Bias Among Health Care Providers: Lessons From Social-Cognitive Psychology. J GEN INTERN MED 22, no. 6 (2007): 882-887. Care, Institute, Brian Smedley, Adrienne Stith, and Alan Nelson. RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT: A REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE AND A CONSIDERATION OF CAUSES. National Academies Press (US) (2003). Accessed November 27, 2014. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220337/. Haider AH, et al. Association Of Unconscious Race And Social Class Bias With Vignette... - Pubmed - NCBI. Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov. 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