Doctors’ Group Issues Apology for Racism July 10, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Alternative, Diseases, Politics and Medicine, Society, Wellness, health, medicine.Tags: african american, doctor, doctors, health, healthcare, Life, medicine, news, physician, Wellness
trackback
By Holly Watt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The country’s largest medical association today issued a formal apology today for its historical antipathy toward African American doctors, expressing regret for a litany of transgressions, including barring black physicians from its ranks for decades and remaining silent during battles on landmark legislation to end racial discrimination.
The apology marks one of the rare times a major national organization has expressed contrition for its role in the segregation and discrimination that black people have experienced in the United States.
The American Medical Association (AMA) issued the apology after assembling a panel of experts to analyze the history of the racial divide in medicine. The independent panel has produced a report, due to be published in the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association, which explores the historical discrimination.
“The apology is important because a heritage of discrimination is evident in the under-representation of African Americans in medicine generally and in the AMA in particular,” said the report’s lead author, Robert B. Baker, professor of philosophy at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and director of the Union Graduate College-Mount Sinai School of Medicine Bioethics Program…..read rest of story…
Comments»
No comments yet — be the first.