The white doctors thought she was faking it. “She’s just pretending that she can’t walk,” my resident said dismissively. We were caring for a little black girl with sickle cell anemia, and I had rushed to report that the usually peppy child couldn’t walk, observing the girl’s large eyes water as she struggled on the hospital floor. My team of doctors, all White, commented on how “dramatic” the child was being, and that her worsening hip pain was simply a ploy to stay in the hospital longer.
Stay longer? I thought. What child wants to stay in the hospital longer?
Several hours later, we are called frantically to the little girl’s room. I see the purple beads in her hair shake and jump as the child suffers a seizure and loses her eyesight to PRES syndrome, a rare complication of worsening sickle cell anemia.
The little Black girl had to experience a near-stroke and temporary blindness before her doctors understood that her pain was not a lie, but a symptom of something very serious.
The idea that a Black girl was "tricking" them to stay in the hospital longer was abominable. I've looked back on this story many times and was never able to separate the racial bias from the outcome we observed. Afterwards, the resident who dismissed my concerns never brought up the girl to me, or expressed remorse for missing the signs. Nobody ever debriefed about what happened, but continued seeing patients as if the girl's complications couldn't possibly have been caught earlier - even though I had brought it up to them.
I will never forget the girl's mother repeating "it will be okay, baby" over and over again, tears streaming from her eyes, as the little girl shook in pain.
Stay longer? I thought. What child wants to stay in the hospital longer?
Several hours later, we are called frantically to the little girl’s room. I see the purple beads in her hair shake and jump as the child suffers a seizure and loses her eyesight to PRES syndrome, a rare complication of worsening sickle cell anemia.
The little Black girl had to experience a near-stroke and temporary blindness before her doctors understood that her pain was not a lie, but a symptom of something very serious.
The idea that a Black girl was "tricking" them to stay in the hospital longer was abominable. I've looked back on this story many times and was never able to separate the racial bias from the outcome we observed. Afterwards, the resident who dismissed my concerns never brought up the girl to me, or expressed remorse for missing the signs. Nobody ever debriefed about what happened, but continued seeing patients as if the girl's complications couldn't possibly have been caught earlier - even though I had brought it up to them.
I will never forget the girl's mother repeating "it will be okay, baby" over and over again, tears streaming from her eyes, as the little girl shook in pain.
