Letters to the Editor: Do yourself a favor — call your doctor ‘Doctor.’ A physician explains why he/she prescribed you medicine. Call a pharmacist or ‘pharmacy’ a ‘pharmacist.’
Do you have a friend, relative or business associate who makes decisions about your health care based on your race, gender, income, credit rating and/or the amount of medical debt you have?
Do you have a healthcare provider, such as a hospital, doctor, practice nurse, insurance company or hospital system, who, by race, gender, income, credit rating or medical debt, decides how to treat you, your family or your business?
Are you on a medication, such as a pain reliever, that has been banned for use by certain groups?
Do you have a friend or family member with a history of making racial slurs, using derogatory terms like “nigger” or “peckerhead,” referring to black people as “niggers” or “peckerheads,” or using the phrase “go back to Africa” to refer to black people? Do you have someone in your life who makes similar racial slurs?
Do any of these people have a history of not taking their medicine or not seeing to it that their medicine is taken as prescribed by a health care provider, the pharmacy or the doctor? Are any of these people in denial?
Are you aware that in some states or parts of the country, certain health care providers may legally refuse to provide certain services to certain individuals on the basis of race, gender, religion or disability or other criteria? Are you aware of any health care providers who refuse to treat certain patients or patients by race, gender, religion or disability or other criteria?
Do you have friends and family who work or have worked for, or for the benefit of, the healthcare providers named in the previous question?
Do any of these friends, family members or coworkers in your life have a history of making racial slurs, using racial epithets, referring to black people as “niggers” or “peckerheads,” using the phrase “go back to Africa” to refer to black people, or using the phrases “we don’t need niggers” and/or “go back to Africa” to refer to