A new study found nearly half of American Muslim physicians feel more mistrust from patients as opposed to their peers, according to The Washington Post.
The study, which was published in AJOB Empirical Bioethics, surveyed physicians who are members of the Islamic Medical Association of North America. Between 2013 and 2014, the survey was sent to 626 physicians, and over 40 percent completed it.
Approximately 89 percent of respondents considered Islam a very important or the most important part of their lives, according to the report. Most respondents were males from South Asia who immigrated to the U.S. in their adulthood.
This was the first study to explore the relationship between religious identity and workplace discrimination among American Muslim physicians.
Here are three additional findings from the study.
1. Almost 25 percent said they experienced religious discrimination at some point in their career.
2. Approximately 14 percent of respondents said they were experiencing religious discrimination at their current workplace.
3. Nearly 10 percent said patients had refused their care because they are Muslim.
"If Muslim physicians feel uncomfortable in the profession because their identity attracts negative experience, then the profession no longer offers a means to live out their faith in service to the profession," said Aasim Padela, MD, an emergency physician at the University of Chicago and the study's lead author, according to the report.
Dr. Padela embarked on the study due to his personal experiences with the issue. During his residency at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center, a few patients complained about him to his supervisors, claiming they "[didn't] want to be taken care of by a terrorist," Dr. Padela said, according to The Washington Post. "I had this happen a couple of times," he added.