A number of black physicians are resigning or being forced out of medicine due to racial discrimination, ABC News reported Oct. 24.
ABC News interviewed three Black physicians, ranging from a former resident to a hospital executive, who all cited racial discrimination as one reason for their departure. They blamed the medical field's competitive culture, hierarchical structure and exploitative nature for the discrimination.
"There's a hierarchical structure in medicine," neurosurgeon Dare Adewumi, MD, said. "Especially in surgery, there's [a] militaristic approach to it as well, where you simply do your job, you shut up, you don't complain. You don't even realize that you're being stepped on more than other colleagues are being stepped on."
Black physicians constitute only 5 percent of all practicing physicians nationwide, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges ABC cited. The shortage of black physicians is linked to reduced access to medical care, less effective medical care and worse outcomes for Black patients, according to the report.