Nora Lane

Professor Crowther

English Composition

March 22, 2022

 

                     The Conflict of Trust with Medicine and Science: Before and After Covid-19

There is a hidden dark side to our evolution in science and medicine, and it has affected the daily lives, perceptions, and general health of our society. Unfortunately, this “hidden” part of our evolution has placed generations of trauma on spectrums such as race, gender, and even mental health. These exact spectrums have unfolded into multilayered experiences during the pandemic such as mask mandate and vaccine conflicts that have continued to persist until today. Unless the trauma is addressed, treated, and removed. Feelings of distrust, betrayal, and overall rebellion against scientific reason will persist.

During the beginning of Covid, we have seen people that have chosen to ignore the facts and the years of knowledge given by well-credited scientists such as Dr. Anthony Fauci a now world-renown speaker during the pandemic. However, even given their reputations and the endless abundance of accessible scientific journals available, there is hesitation that has continued to linger in science and medicine; as well as misinformation (such as fake news) not being regulated and used as factual information.

Since the begging of the Pandemic, the public has been informed by the CDC and world-renowned doctors and scientists on the growing status, and growing nature of the virus. Yet, people chose to believe that the virus as a government tool of control or a made-up concept revolved around conspiracy. Even though the data was present and completely disregarded the tragic lives being lost to it. This is a similar problem to the “vaccines cause autism” rampage that took told in the late 1990s after the publishing of The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield. Even after it was discredited and disapproved by several studies on the epidemiology of autism and accredited physicians the damage was done. By that time several parents have completely opted out of their children getting the MMR (measles) vaccine, even though it was proven that the measles virus was a casual path to autism itself. Ultimately, this mistake would later spawn the Anti Vax Movement that has continued to dominate and grow in our society today. However, misinformation and “fake news” are only one side of the infinite growing problem of social distrust.

Racism has played a very key part in the destruction and overall disconnection with the science community. Since the beginning of slavery, African Americans were used as mere tools and were not viewed as people. The “father of Gynecology” J. Marion Sims was known to use enslaved women as experiments for gynecology research and it was shown that he did not use anesthesia for his procedures, but only later for his white clients. This type of ignorance contributed to several other immoral acts of racial injustice to the African American community such as the infamous “Tuskegee Experiments”. This event took place in Tuskegee Alabama in 1932 and consisted of 600 non-consensual participants being injected with syphilis thinking that there getting treated for “bad blood”.  This experiment continued upregulated and undocumented for nearly forty years later in 1972. Fortunately, there was a halt to the experiment after it was published. As Quoted by the CDC report, “The Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs appointed an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study. The advisory that the study was “ethically unjustified” …”.   (Source: Visuals, Unsplash.com

We should also focus on other factors for medical distrust due to racial domination and segregation. One general fact that should be recognized is the medical neglect that has continued to take the lives of Black women. More than we anyone would like to believe Black women are more likely to be dismissed and even turned away for undiagnosed medical conditions that they could suffer from. This includes the fact that Black Women alone are 40.8% more likely to die due to birth complications that any other ethnic race in America. A fair majority of said complications were preventable such as Hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders and Cardiomyopathy and “…hypertensive disorders of pregnancy contributed more to pregnancy-related deaths among black women than among white women” (Source CDC.com).  The final focus would be predisposed racist assumptions of people of color and their cognitive abilities called “race-norming” which is still used in medicine today and is nonetheless extremely immoral and problematic. This test does not include other factors such as quality of life, healthcare, trauma, or even education. Although there are more factors than the ones I stated, this trauma would show why we saw resistance and disinterest in getting the vaccine to Black Americans during the pandemic.

 

(Source: Sarah Mirk, Flickr.com)

In the absence of race, men and women also have split differences in their experience with healthcare. Women in America do not receive the same quality of care compared to their male counterparts. Let us use the IUD procedure as an example, you are given medications for dilation of the cervix, and they use a sharply curved clap to “pinch” the cervix. The problem with this, is that this is often done without medication afterward or aesthesia, doctors will even undermine the pain their female client could be in and at times flat out decline medications. Compared to men if they go under certain procedures such as a vasectomy. They are given numbing injections and pain medications without hesitation. On a bigger note, “women are more likely to be in poor health compared to men” (Source: The Guardian) due to gender bias and the stereotypes of “woman hysteria”.

This is also linked to increased mental health complications during the development of the pandemic. According to KFF.org, “During the pandemic, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder”. It’s an honest comparison in 2019 where it was only one in ten adults.  I personally know many people who have transitioned from better to worse, or semi-stable to an overall decline and even I am among the vast contributors to growing the data. Forced isolation and solidarity, have increased mental instability amongst Americans and have unintentionally forced individuals into an endless cycle of insanity and routine to cope with the pandemic. It doesn’t help that there are external factors that contributed to the mental health crisis to increase in America such as increased gas rates, wage disparities (including minimum wage), increased hours and workload to due shortages, job displacements, and so on.

(Photo Source: KFF.org)

 

It is fair to say that our healthcare system and scientific community has failed to provide reinsurance to our society. This in no way blinds the fact that we do have ethical scientists, doctors, and quality workers in our health care community, but there is serious work that needs to be done. If we continue the path of neglect and do not reassure society with well-documented work within ethical and moral standards. Then we will continue to fall short in the next upcoming wave of a possible pandemic in the future. Unification and understanding is key.