Here's the uncomfortable truth: Race, gender, sexual orientation, age, body size, income, and other cultural factors have a significant bearing on whether you will be diagnosed and treated correctly. The good news is regardless of whether you are a patient, healthcare provider, or administrator, there are steps you can take today to combat medical bias.
The only book on this subject written by a primary care doctor who is a woman of color, DISMISSED examines all forms of bias - those related to race and ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, age, disabilities, obesity, and the increasing bias against science - instructing patients, doctors, and administrators alike on how we can all identify bias - and how we can all do better.
Have you ever felt you were treated differently by a medical professional due to your skin color, age, ethnicity, gender, or for any other reason? If so, you are far from alone.
For the first time, an author with the unique perspective of being one of America's top doctors, a woman, and Black, candidly addresses the issue of bias in health-care, sharing personal and patient stories and pragmatic solutions. Dr. Angela Marshall, repeatedly named a "Top Doctor" by Washingtonian magazine, draws on extensive research, poignant stories from some of the thousands of patients she has treated, and her own compelling personal experience, to examine the bias from both patients' and healthcare providers' points of view. She offers a bold blueprint for change, filled with fresh solutions that can help everyone in our health-care system.
Dismissed not only explains what so many people feel profoundly-that the system is not working for them. It also reveals what health-care practitioners, patients, and society in general can do to make it right.
