Are you a victim of patient profiling?

[Cheshire]

Ever felt misjudged by a doctor? Or treated unfairly by a clinic or hospital? You may be a victim of patient profiling.

Patient profiling is the practice of regarding particular patients as more likely to have certain behaviors or illnesses based on their appearance, race, gender, financial status, or other observable characteristics. Profiling disproportionately impacts patients with chronic pain, mental illness, the uninsured, and patients of color. Like racial profiling by police, patient profiling by physicians is more common than you think.


We rely on doctors to first do no harm–to safeguard our health–but profiling patients often leads to improper medical care, and distrust of physicians and the health care system, with potential lifelong consequences.

https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/02/victim-patient-profiling.html

 

[Woolie]

I thought some of the cases were odd examples to choose. One guy was denied treatment because he couldn't pay, and that's awful (that's the US for you), but its not patient profilling. One woman refused vaccines to her child, and it would appear the doctor took a poor view. Agreed, patients should have the right to choose, but that's not patient profiling either. There's a couple of stories of people asking for strong pain meds over long periods, and their doctors didn't agree, not sure if this counts as patient profiling either.

The others are okay. One guy with sinus problems accused of being a cocaine abuser, says he wasn't. One young woman talked down to by the doctor when asking for specific contraception.

Where are all the women whose heart attack symptoms were missed because the doctor just thought she was just having a wee panic attack?

Where are all the young women whose complaints were dismissed because she was probably just being histrionic?