{"id":7627,"date":"2020-10-02T11:11:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=7627"},"modified":"2020-10-02T13:43:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T18:43:04","slug":"ways-systematic-racism-might-happen-hospital-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2020\/10\/ways-systematic-racism-might-happen-hospital-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways “Systemic Racism” Might Happen, Hospital Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are different definitions of what \u201csystemic\u201d can mean<\/a>, and what it can mean specifically in terms of \u201csystemic\u201d racism.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it is necessary for ordinary people to sign off on every possible meaning of those terms in order to acknowledge that, in some form or another, there appears to be a disparity in outcomes that (a) creates obvious divides on racial lines and (b) is not so much about individual acts of discrimination as it is some larger, harder-to-grasp phenomenon at work.<\/p>\n

I want to share an example of how I think this sort of thing happens, and also an example of how Not Everything Is Horrible (Even If Some Things Are).<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

This summer my sixteen-year-old got sick.\u00a0 Sore throat, fever, dry cough . . . oh yeah.<\/p>\n

In checking on her throughout the day (with masks for all, physical distancing, disinfecting, etc.), I observed her developing an alarming case of shortness of breath on exertion.\u00a0 This child is an athlete training intensively 4-5 times a week, and who does not have a history of asthma.\u00a0 I put a call into the nurse, and our pediatrician called me back personally.\u00a0 After a short conversation she told me she was calling ahead to the ER to let them know we\u2019d be coming in shortly.<\/p>\n

At our doctor\u2019s request, we went to the inner-city major medical center that has a separate pediatric ER, and which would be the location where our daughter would be admitted if she needed to be hospitalized, as the other hospitals in the region did not have a pediatric COVID ward.\u00a0 Fair enough.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our experience there was not at all the level of care our pediatrician anticipated.\u00a0 Some of the things that happened:<\/p>\n