A 28-year-old Yale doctor has argued that healthcare workers, such as doctors and nurses, should be required to wear body cameras while interacting with patients in order to capture proof of racist behavior against Black patients.
Dr. Amanda Calhoun asserted in an op-ed piece for the Boston Globe that many times, Black patients are mistreated by white healthcare workers by having their symptoms dismissed or diminished, alleging that the “disproportionately poor and racist care” of Black patients could be counteracted by requiring health care professionals to wear body cameras.
“As a physician, I have witnessed countless racist behaviors toward Black patients, often coupled with conscious and cruel statements,” Calhoun wrote. “If we want to see a reduction in poor health outcomes for Black patients, we must hold health care professionals accountable in real time.”
Calhoun argued that many Black patients experience “medical violence, which kills through delays in medical care, pain undertreatment and misdiagnoses.” She alleged that while wearing a body camera might not stop healthcare workers from being racist in their treatment, it could still help the mistreated prove wrongdoing after the fact.
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“Patient discrimination can lead to doctors losing their medical license, but proving someone engaged in racist behavior after the fact is challenging, especially when it isn’t recorded,” Calhoun wrote. “Patient privacy is protected by HIPAA, but patients or their families could consent to the release of body camera footage if they want to bring forward complaints of racism.”
Calhoun’s assertions about poor healthcare for Black Americans may not be entirely wrong. A 2016 study found that “Black Americans are systematically underrated for pain relative to white Americans” and that healthcare workers in the study who held false beliefs about biological differences between races were more likely to make less accurate recommendations for treatment. But the idea that healthcare workers should wear body cameras as a solution to the problem has sparked criticism, and for good reason.
Some expressed their support for Calhoun’s idea, citing their own experiences with racism. One Twitter user called it “an innovative, cutting-edge approach to dismantling medical racism.” Others, though, were more skeptical about the viability of such a rule, asserting that it would carry its own set of issues.
“This could violate HIPAA laws and open hospitals up to massive lawsuits if the camera footage ever leaked,” one account posted.
“Yeah this violates the patient/doctor confidentiality,” another Twitter user said, summing up in seven words one of the main criticisms of Calhoun’s idea.
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