Are universities and medical schools racist? They must be if a Supreme Court decision based on ending discrimination against Asians means fewer doctors.
Yet that is the argument in a recent JAMA op-ed; that black people won't be able to get into medical school unless a secret sauce gives them a boost. Even more, they contend, there will be more health inequity because minorities may refuse to go to a physician who is not their skin color.
There is a lot wrong with arguing that Black and Native American people don't want the best doctors, they only want someone who looks like them. And that universities can't continue to use whatever criteria they want to pick winners and losers among students - they just can't wrap themselves in the flag of American law to do it.
Should I be wary of the care given by Dr. Valerie Rice because my skin is a different color than hers? It would never come to mind, nor do I believe people of any race are doing that. My primary care physician is Asian - but I have never even met her, since this is California, where we mandated demand and limit supply with regulations - but I don't complain because despite paying $30,000-per-year in premiums, I am lucky I have an MD at all. Most Californians will have an osteopath.
Yet the authors do not note that even if people of their race don't get selected over those with higher scores for a medical school, they can still give care as a DO. They falsify their own hypothesis when they note that only 5 percent of physicians today are Black - because 5 percent were Black 50 years ago also. Sending an Asian to a different school made no difference at all in the percentage of physicians of one race.
Slavery ended in the US 160 years ago so saying that because Brits, Spaniards, and Africans sent 4 percent of slaves to the US before the US banned importation of slaves in 1808, there needs to be racism against Asians in 2023, is just weird. Yet that is the argument; we must pick winners and losers based on skin color now because racists existed in the past.
Come to California, whatever color you are. If patients are using Obamacare, they will just be happy they can get an appointment. They sure won't care about your melanin.
