Few people talk about this, but there is a great deal of racism in medicine, which affects patient care. If you listen to the conversations in the doctor’s lounge when patients are not there, you would be surprised about the racist comments many physicians make behind the scenes.

Given the racial disparities we see in the coronavirus pandemic, we must acknowledge all the abuse that goes on in the very patriarchal field of medicine where conservative tradition, militant hierarchy, and discrimination reign supreme. We need urgent reform because it’s broken.

And the media just makes it worse by painting a picture of doctors as white knights, showing white male doctors on the TV screen and reinforcing the very type of white supremacy that fills the hospital hallways and corridors. We need more doctors and nurses of color in the media.