
Should Patients Be Allowed to Choose – Or Refuse – Doctors by Race or Gender? - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/magazine/should-patients-be-allowed-to-choose-or-refuse-doctors-by-race-or-gender.html
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bradknowles
If you are the patient, and you refuse to be served by a doctor of a
particular race or gender, then I think you’re primarily hurting yourself.

But if you choose to do that, then I think you should lose all rights to any
kind of complaint regarding the service you do receive.

Am I missing something?

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siphon22
I think most patients are ultimately making the best choices for them in good
faith and we should assume so unless provided evidence otherwise. I have a
Vietnamese friend with an older, non-English speaking parent who can only be
helped by a Vietnamese doctor. Sure you can have interpreters, but that's not
always the most convenient. There is also another element to this that has to
do with race/genetics, which I will argue for only as a devil's advocate.
People from different cultures/races are well, different. An Indian doctor
will have the most intuitive sense for diagnosing an Indian patient. And even
if that isn't factually true, if the patient believes it, is it wrong for them
to pursue the option they think is best for them? If we outlaw or punish
people for making the choice they believe is best for them in good faith,
would we not then be liable for any negative outcome that should result from
that?

