The Benedict News Spring 2021 Edition

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The medical history of the United Stateshas not been fair for many, and these issueshave become both ignited and illuminatedby the COVID-19 pandemic. The disparity,mistreatment, and neglect of Black andBrown Americans plague the healthcaresystem of the United States, according tomany studies, and this has led to asignificant racial disparity in terms of whichcommunities have been harmed the most bythis virus.In other words, people of color are dying ata significantly higher rate than WhiteAmericans in the United States -- and this isno coincidence: These current racialdisparities signify a history of trauma andneglect in communities of color.In the past, there have been manyinstances in which Black people weretreated as test subjects for experiments,according to a leading physician, Dr.Michael Straker. He said people such asJames Marion Sims, who is regarded as the“Father of Modern Gynecology,”experimented on Black women without anyform of anesthesia -- and of the many whowere tortured during these experiments,many were killed.“Those in power never viewed us as equal,they never viewed us as human,” said Dr.Straker, an African American gynecologistand obstetrician with a practice in NewJersey. “They did not believe we deservedthe same amount of respect or care.”Dr. Straker, a graduate of Johns HopkinsUniversity and the Mt. Sinai School ofMedicine, points to a warped beliefunderlying these lethal practices -- a falsenotion that Black people feel less pain thantheir White counterparts. This belief, hesaid, continues to inform medical practicestoday.He cited a June 2019 study published in theAmerican Journal of Emergency Medicine.benedictnewsonline.org40In the study, researchers examined datafrom 14 previously published studies ofpain management in American emergencyrooms that altogether included 7,070 Whitepatients, 1,538 Hispanic patients, and 3,125Black patients. Compared to White patientsin the study, Black patients were 40% lesslikely to receive medication to ease acutepain and Hispanic patients were 25% lesslikely, the analysis found.Physicians in the study may have beenchoosing which patients get pain reliefbased on conscious, unconscious, andimplicit bias as well as negative stereotypesbased upon race, ethnicity, and class, Dr.Carmen Green, a professor ofanesthesiology at the University ofMichigan schools of medicine and publichealth in Ann Arbor, told Physician'sWeekly.“We tend to be more sympathetic to thosewho look like us,” Green said. “Overall,racial and ethnic minorities tend to receivelesser quality of care, have lesser qualityhealth insurance, have decreased access tocare, and experience diminished outcomesthat lead to disparities.”Consequently, something like visiting adoctor for a checkup may not be sostraightforward for members of theAfrican American community, Dr.Straker said. There is a seed of deepmistrust of healthcare that was plantedduring slavery in the United States, andthis trust has yet to be earned back, whichmeans, he said, the tree from that seed isstill growing today.A more recent example is the TuskegeeSyphilis Study, an experiment that involved600 African American men being injectedwith syphilis, which was incurable at thetime. These men were recruited under thefalse promise that they were receiving freemedical care and treatment for whatever
CDC photoThis historic photograph, created sometime around 1932, shows participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Inthis particular view, an African-American man was being x-rayed, while in the standing position.occurred following the experiment. The results were horrifying. The doctors watched aspeople suffered from the effects of the illness: some went blind, others passed it onto theirrelatives, and died from either syphilis or the complications that stemmed from thedisease.According to Dr. Straker, these are far from being the only instances in which Black peoplewere the subjects of a medical experiment, and these repeated occurrences have createdgenerational trauma and a mistrust of healthcare services in the African Americancommunity.There are problems, he said, that need to be addressed in relation to public health. Duringthe height of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention, Black people were nearly two times as likely to die from COVID-19 than theirWhite counterparts. Moreover, Black people disportionately suffer from diseases such asdiabetes and heart disease. A growing body of evidence indicates these serious disparitiescan directly be traced back to systemic racism in America.41 Issue 2 Volume 3 Spring 2021
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Page 4 and 5: Keeping the Hive Humming: How the G
Page 6 and 7: Photo byJorgeIzurietaSunil DasSY, S
Page 8 and 9: Convocation, Mr. Adubato had his Fi
Page 10 and 11: Conversio:Giving Studentsa Chance t
Page 12 and 13: Medical Experts of Color Tell Bened
Page 14 and 15: against COVID-19. Dr. Cleary stress
Page 16 and 17: Benedict’s “Finest Hour”:Dr.
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Page 22 and 23: time that there was to evaluate the
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Page 26 and 27: The Convomakers:What Virtual Convo
Page 28 and 29: “Staying Together”A Photo Essay
Page 30 and 31: COVID and MeHave you ever loved som
Page 32 and 33: Benedict’s Turns the Pandemic on
Page 34 and 35: Finding a Silver Lining inQuarantin
Page 36 and 37: WhyVaccinate?By Emilio CalleCOVID-1
Page 38 and 39: In these uncertain times, staying w
Page 42 and 43: When the Abnormal becomes the Norm:
Page 44 and 45: When COVID Strikes: A Survival Stor
Page 46 and 47: When This is Over…By Zemi Rodrigu
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