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She is also young. In my job there were medical professional women who looked very young and people didn't believe they were qualified. They wanted the older gentleman to help them.
Usually they believed it once they were told but there could be some ageism involved also.
Young, black, female. Those are 3 strikes. This is what people perceive, not fact. Truth is, we are all bigoted or conditioned in in some way. Overall, people are becoming more accepting but it doesn't happen overnight.
This is the definition of a bigot: a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.
That's what I think it was partly.
1. She didn't say "I'm a doctor," when she raised her hand. That's what they say in the movies! When the dr raises his hand or approaches the sick person, the 1st thing s/he says is, "I'm a doctor."
2. Her age. Age probably was a big factor. She looks young. She may have been dressed like a bopper, spoke in a small voice like some women have, so that the effect was to make her seem even younger than she is.
3. Race was probably part of it (but only part of it). Had she been a middle aged black woman, wearing glasses, and said "I'm a doctor" as she raised her hand, it would've been a different story, I think.
4. She may not have identified herself as a dr. when she booked her ticket (Dr. Linda Smith). I don't know if doctors normally do that, but I bet they do.
5. That she was female added to it, I'm sure. Some people still think of doctors as male. I don't because I've worked for females and had a female doctor.
She was a resident, so she was probably young. She probably doesn't have a real license since she is still in training (State law varies on this, but most states have a residency license that is granted to practice at the institution where you are training, but most states don't give any kind wallet license for this). Most doctors apply and are granted their real license during their last year of residency, as state licenses are expensive and there is no reason to get one until you are about to need it to practice after you graduate (unless apparently you need one to assist on a flight).
I'm sure there are people who don't think AA's can be physicians, but there are way more people that assume young people or women aren't physicians. My sister was assisting someone on a flight a few years out of residency when she got pushed aside by an older male orthopedic surgeon who assumed she was an RN. Of course the funny thing to anyone in the medical field is that orthopedic surgeons are probably the last people along with pathologists and radiologist that you would want assisting you with a non-orthopedic medical issue. It's just not something they deal with regularly. It'd be like taking your great-grandmother to see a pediatrician about her hypertension and coronary artery disease.
And situations like THIS are exactly how prejudice, stereotyping and bigotry effects us all regardless of our race.
I was thinking it was because of your thread title. Were you trying to perpetuate the stereotype, or just going for shock value?
I really enjoyed that you just CAN NOT help yourself.
Just to expand on why the OP is being racist here... WHY is this posted in Great debates and not Current Events??????
Uh...no. The airlines are required to confirm the person giving medical attention is qualified. The black doctor didn't have any documentation. If you were the ill person, would you want someone unqualified working on you?...or would you sue the airline for letting someone unqualified working on you?
A doctor's basic qualifications can be quickly checked nowadays. Zeez...it's not John Wayne in "The High And The Mighty" in 1954. But, to answer your question, if I was dying and someone claimed to be a doctor, I'd take my chances with them rather than just die.
Look, let's not give too much credit to flight attendant crews. They only have to have a GED education to become a flight attendant. Do you want to trust your life to one of them?
1. She didn't say "I'm a doctor," when she raised her hand. That's what they say in the movies! When the dr raises his hand or approaches the sick person, the 1st thing s/he says is, "I'm a doctor."
2. Her age. Age probably was a big factor. She looks young. She may have been dressed like a bopper, spoke in a small voice like some women have, so that the effect was to make her seem even younger than she is.
3. Race was probably part of it (but only part of it). Had she been a middle aged black woman, wearing glasses, and said "I'm a doctor" as she raised her hand, it would've been a different story, I think.
4. She may not have identified herself as a dr. when she booked her ticket (Dr. Linda Smith). I don't know if doctors normally do that, but I bet they do.
5. That she was female added to it, I'm sure. Some people still think of doctors as male. I don't because I've worked for females and had a female doctor.
Well, it's all PERFECTLY reasonable then..."bopper"? Is that out of The Warriors or some reference from before that even?
Uh...no. The airlines are required to confirm the person giving medical attention is qualified. The black doctor didn't have any documentation. If you were the ill person, would you want someone unqualified working on you?...or would you sue the airline for letting someone unqualified working on you?
Exactly! I saw this on the news. The black woman doctor provided no documentation that she was, in fact, a doctor. But already this has people stirred up because they perceived it as racist. The airlines are required to see documentation and this woman doctor couldn't or wouldn't provide such.
Exactly! I saw this on the news. The black woman doctor provided no documentation that she was, in fact, a doctor. But already this has people stirred up because they perceived it as racist. The airlines are required to see documentation and this woman doctor couldn't or wouldn't provide such.
Actually, it is quite haphazard whether documentation is "required" or even asked for. That provides a great opportunity to see the circumstances under which people have to prove themselves.
Why didn't they ask for the credentials of the white male physician who was also on board?
Just because the black doctor didn't see them ask the white doctor for document doesn't mean they didin't. There are more than one flight attendant on the plane. One could have been verifying the white doctors credentials while another was talking to the black doctor.
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