Perry, Eugene B.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 32 | Number 3 Article 6August 1965The Negro Physician in the Time of ChangeEugene B. PerryFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationPerry, Eugene B. (1965) "The Negro Physician in the Time of Change," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 32 : No. 3 , Article 6.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol32/iss3/6The Negro Physician 1n the Time of Change EUGENE B. PERRY, M.D.* HOUSTON, TEXAS Hence racial discrimination can in no we 1e justified. PoPE JoHN XXIII. Pacem In Terris. Before the Annual Conference of Some hospitals still Bishops' Representatives for Hospi- tients altogether. ::: tals in Dallas in 1963 Taylor said, number and segrega ". . . no issue is more grave, nor ments and attics un more urgent, nor more dishonorable, but equal' item."4 i: than racism in hospitals and in par- .in June, 1964 the �· ticular in Catholic hospitals . .  yet of the National Fed there are hospitals not open to the olic Physicians' Gu Negroes, either to patients or to phy- resolution: sicians for training as interns and "WHEREAS: Some hos residents, or for medical staff mem­bership."5 In 1963 in The Atlanta University Review of Race and Cul­ture, Pettigrew and Pettigrew wrote, mittance of Negro pat: physicians who are N staffs, to internship and programs, and .PRIL ]963. .r Negro pa­e limit their .hem in base-the 'separate ,an Francisco .;cutive Board tion of Cath­s passed this 1ls deny the ad­s and qualified oes to medical sidency training "Innumerable private facilities [i.e. WHEREAS: The denin: -,f these hospital hospitals] are closed to Negroes, and privileges is a civil l moral wrong, the public facilities open to them therefore, are symbolic instruments of white BE IT RESOLVED t t the Nationalsupremacy state governments, segre- Federation of Catholic ysicians' Guilds, gated, inferior, and grossly over- in recognizing the fathl iood of God and h respecting the brotherhocd of man, go on crowded. "2 In t e 87th Congress record as opposing d' --rimination andSenator Javits charged that "nothin?: segregation of Negroes i.1 hospitals."1 could be more pernicious than racial A movement tow· ds integration discrimination and segregation in and desegregation in some hospitals the medical field . .. .  Negro M.D.'s and the profession of edicine st.art· meet obstacles in their practice and ed before 1963. But it is obvious advancement every step of the way. that since 1963 more hospitals start-*Member-at-Large, Executive Committee ofThe National Council of Catholic Men;first vice-president, the Houston-Galves­ton Diocesan Council of N.C.C.M.; andMedical Director, The Public HealthClinics at Prairie View A and M Collegeat Prairie View, Texas.202ed admitting Negroes as pati�ntsand as physicians to the med'.cal staffs; and more and more medical s o c i e t i e s and associations haveopened their membership to Negro physicians. Obviously a change has LINACRE QUARTERLY begun. To the outsider it has ap­peared to move too rapidly. To those involved it has lagged too far behind. Regardless, it has been the most dramatic social change, as well as moral change, to have begun in such a short period of time. The beginning, however, was ever so long in starting. From the view­point of the Negro, as a citizen and as a physician, the Negro race has faced and experienced not decades but centuries of denial and repug­nance. He has been told to wait. He has been told to wait because everything would be all right some day. To wait? To wait for what? The word wait has been pounded so deeply, almost eternally it would seem, into his soul that it came to mean not next year, not soon, but never. But the very social and spir­itual nature of human beings, regard­less of skin color, is meant to work for one another's welfare - in spirit and in action, not just in words. In part the increased emphasis in recent years on the inhumaness and the immorality of racism has served to humanize hospital policies and practices. It is no mystery that one of the main reasons more hospi­tals have started integrating and de­segregating is not really a profound regard for the brotherhood and spirit of man but a brotherly respect for the kind of governmental money that helps to assure the construction of hospitals and the underwriting of research activities, clinical study centers, and training programs. Thus, the striking out of the "separate but equal" item in the Hill-Burton Act has served greatly to cause integra­tion in hospitals to be on the move. AucusT, 1965 Regardless, however, the Negro -neither as patient nor as. physician - has been totally freed from segre­gative and discriminative practicesand attitudes. Although it variesfrom place to place, he generallyis still rejected, frustrated, and · ignored. He still, because of his "color," is not wanted in the main­stream of professional and socialopportunities in everyday life.Hitherto, in accordance with the "separate but equal" practice it was not uncommon in hospitals "taking Negroes" for the patients and physi­cians to be restricted to the "colc:ired part" of the hospital; this could be either in a basement, or over a heating plant, or in a separate build­ing. Today, hospitals ( that for the record publicly state that facilities are available without regard to race) segregate patients either in a wing or on a separate floor, or together in a double-room, or singly in a private room when patients medically and economically are eligible for non­private space. The race of patients is recorded (not for special research studies, however) on the admitting records and made part of the hos pi -tal's statistical reports. Odious signs still designate rest rooms "For Col­ored Women" and "For Colo:-ed Men." There often prevails an ob­vious lack of common decency and courtesy of manner, a failure to regard Negro patients as human be­ings and to refer to them as "Mr.", "Mrs." or "Miss," as well as physi­cians as "Doctor." Although these are human mat­ters, and some provide a glimpse of the inhumanity of man, patients still 203 n are admitted to beds on the basis of race and physicians are considered for staff membership on the basis of race. In relation to the number of qualified non-white physicians to communities, it remains very diffi­cult for Negro physicians to be admitted to the medical staffs of hospitals. As a matter of fact, hospi­tals with staff physicians numbering between 500 and 1000 may count only one or two Negro physicians. Some hospitals have not an official policy but a functional "closed staff" practice. Others sugge:;t that board certification is r e q u i r e d . Others, despite the surface support of staff physicians, and perhaps of administration, doubtlessly are ful­filling the instruction of the hospital board not to consider the application of any Negro physician. Others kind­ly state, "We will be happy to con­sider your application when there is a vacancy on the staff!" Others just table the application without replying to the physician. Mean­while, a dozen or more white physi­cians attain· staff membership. Some hospitals admitting Negro patients admit "individually," i.e. admittance is delayed until separate administra­tive approval or permission is se­cured. Yet neither administrative nor medical approval is required for each white patient. Others utilize the scheme that "all the hospital beds are filled." Like any human being the Negro, whether a professional person or not, desires . to be accepted and respected by other human beings, white and Negro alike. When qualified by training and experience, he also de-204 sires to be recognin · the opportunity to l the full professional munity. Like most : he tries to compreht ties innumerable "·1 facing. He tries, in stand things that de He tries to respect g. look deep into the pray, and who try i think and feel is rigl large measure caw, rejection and frustra counter it repeatedl: or alleged belief in and unworthiness of in the authoritaria1· 1d provided ·ceived intoof the com­ole persons,the difficul­persons are 1, to under­make sense. v those who;earts, who1 what they But what in:1im to feel (and I rn­,s an actualc inferio rity _ Negro and rder of onerace over another, o- i one person over another. But T not regard, nor is there any evic .:::e for it, my race as inferior to ai, Jther nor for that matter as supc" ·. Nor do I r e g a r d  my Negr, ·olleagues as ignorant, untrustw 1y, violent, and lacking in cons, ,1ce. For in­justice is a contrac ion of con­science. Indeed, in \ ·; of our long past of extraordinar, 1rejudice, de­nial, and brutality_, ,1d this is not a pseudo-sacrificial J, h - my race is a vast reservoir c -::apacity and ability and of charac and quality. Therefore, to e x c ; . d e qualified Negro physicians 1 m first-class hospitals does not SL .  : to increase a community's stand , ds of medical care. It does not inc1 _.tse the health of a community. Nc· does it allow at more sophisticated '.cvels talented research scientists, m, dical students, interns, and residen1 physicians to engage in the acti ril1cs of research institutes and to be adequately rep· resented in the hospitals that provide LINACRE QUARTERLY advanced medical and surgical train­ing programs. Obviously unavoidable problems and difficulties exist among all hu­man beings. Deep feelings and biased attitudes learned in child­hood become a part of the actions of adults - a far cry, however, from the maturity of adulthood. For ex­ample, there is a difference between integration _ and segregation. O�emay work in a desegregated hospi­tal; but in one also integrated there prevail attitudes that are respectable and personal. There are feelings of belonging and being a part of pro­fessional and social activities. It does not mean a "buddy-buddy" nor a "brother-in-law" kind of attitude. It means just a brother-in-Christ atti­tude, unified and joined together in charity by his Holy Spirit. It means believing in Christ and also know­ing Christ's love. In this connection the closed retreat for physicians ren.­ovates and strengthens one's spirit­uality. But it should also help us to face up to the sinfulness of injustice and thereby help in curing the ills of prejudice, indeed the social ills of society itself. It is one thing to avoid injustice and uncharitableness all around us; it is another to do something about it. It is one thing to speak of the equality of man in the sight of God; it is another to believe in the reality of God in the sight of all men. Thus, integration mean,; being considered on a status fully equal in opportunity in order to fulfill man's mission of charity and understanding. It does not mean regarding any race of man as c!et>endent and passive, nor as aban­doned and neglected and therefore AucuST, 1965owecli everything. I should not want to be adopted or to be protected. For like anyone, regardless of any race, I am obliged to gain the re­spect of others, but also to have my dignity respected through my own efforts, my own accomplishments, my own charity, and my own understanding. Most human beings, in some way, need motivation -individually and professionally. But professional, economic, and social spankings are not positive motiva­tions. In this regard, a child about to be spanked by his mother, plead­ed loudly, "Don't spank me, Mom­mie, motivate me!" Motivation is not being favored, nor accorded spe­cial privileges; it is providing and believing in the kind of bond of faith and trust that is a part of respect,· recognition, and encourage­ment that leads to increased com­petence and confidence. Negro physicians, if not only be­cause they have had to learn to toler­ate (and toleration is not acceptance nor a way of life) for a while longer the sting, the hurt, the insult, and the penetrating injustice of racial provocations, have developed a social discipline and restraint of a high order. The endurance of environ­mental odds and professional, edu­cational, and social deprivations, has served to make them strong in their aims to excel in medicine and in service and sacrifice. But in this period of social transition increased individual sacrifice is necessary not only to acquire individual identity but also to participate positively in 205 attaining competence in medical science and practice. . In order to be worthy of a voca­!,ron and profession it is necessaryto accept the law of moral justice �nd civil freedom and perceive it in its realistic dimensions. It is neces­sary to rise above attitudes of bias and ancient impulses and become involved in the moral rule that allows a human being to fulfill his natural potential and to be judged not by his skin color but by his qualities as a human being."5 206 REFERE 1Minutes, Executive Bor eration of Catholic T The Linacre Quart. 3 '. 2Pettigrew, A. H. anc'. Race, Disease and De,: Look. Phylon, The At,' Race and Culture, 24 3Seham, M.: Discrimir, groes in Hospitals. T1-Med. 271 : 940, 1964. 'lihid: quoted by. \Ta tional Fed­'ians' Guilds. _2, 1964. :grew, T. F.: ation: A New Univ. Rev. of 3, 1963. - Against Ne­ew England J.5Taylor, F. M.: A Mat· f Justice. The Linacre Quart. 30 : 15 )63. LINACRE QUARTERLY < Illegitimacy, Adoption, and Physidans PAuL F. WALDNER, A.c.s.w.1 AND FRED M. TAYLOR, M.D.2 HOUSTON, TEXAS This year in the United States approximately 265,000 illegitimate babies, 6 per cent of all live births, will be born. They will represent all social and economical levels and affect at least a million persons -the unmarried mother and her par­ents, the putative father and his parents, and the friends of one or both of them. In addition, they will involve countless social workers, physicians, lawyers, clergymen, and nurses. Illegitimate births are no measure of the number of illegiti­mate conceptions - those of married women during periods of separation from husbands; and those terminat­ing in abortions and miscarriages. Illegitimate birth rates, even though the rate of births out-of-wedlock . among adolescents has not increased in recent years, do not indicate in adolescents the annual prenuptial conceptions and the pregnancies ending in late fetal death. Nor do the data represent the innumerable covered-up and get - out - of - town cases. Like most social problems a dis­cussion of illegitimacy evokes an 1Executive Director, Catholic Family and Children's Service of the Diocese of Gal­veston-Houston. �fessor of Pediatrics, Baylor University Hege of Medicine, and Director, Junior �e ?utpatient Department, Texas ChiCenldren s Hospital, The Texas Medical ter. AUGUST, 1965 infinite variety of comments - from stern disapproval to moralistic ser­mons on the rot of welfare; and from nonconstructive pity to vigor­ous mandates for crash programs to provide anticonceptive measures to the unwed female teenagers and adults. In this respect no single cause, or set of factors, leads to ille­gitimacy. Nonetheless, as a social calamity, it challenges anyone sensi­tive to the influence and the effects of social, cultural, and economic phenomena on the social illnesses of a community. Responsible pro­posals for the prevention and man­agement of social illnesses are seldom effective if they are ignored and de­nied, or surrounded with secrecy, moralistic generalizations, and ta­boo-like attitudes. In part, similar attitudes once prevailed toward com­municable diseases, cancer, and nu­tritional disabilities. No person alone, or one group, can curb illnesses that require the knowledge and experi­ence of innumerable professional persons. Hence, in order to under­stand illegitimacy and to decrease it ( to help persons in trouble is not to be confused with condoning what has been done) , it is essential to draw on the wisdom and ideas of persons not only in the social and behavorial sciences but also in medi­cine, religion, education, and law. M o s t persons, including some physicians, tend to believe that 207 

The Negro Physician in the Time of Change

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The Negro Physician in the Time of Change

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