Dismissed Tackling the Biases That Undermine our Health Care

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Race, gender, sexual orientation, age, body size, income, and other cultural factors have a significant bearing on whether you will be diagnosed and treated correctly. The good news is regardless of whether you are a patient, healthcare provider, or administrator, there are steps you can take today to combat medical bias.

The only book on this subject written by a primary care doctor who is a woman of color, DISMISSED examines all forms of bias – those related to race and ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, age, disabilities, obesity, and the increasing bias against science – instructing patients, doctors, and administrators alike on how we can all identify bias – and how we can all do better.

Health-care providers and their patients are human, and all humans have unconscious biases that affect how we listen, observe, and act. Bias impacts patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Health-care bias can mean the difference not just between suffering and relief, but between life and death.

For the first time, an author with the unique perspective of being one of America’s top doctors, a woman, and Black, candidly addresses the issue of bias in health care, sharing personal and patient stories and pragmatic solutions. Dr. Angela Marshall, repeatedly named a “Top Doctor” by Washingtonian magazine, draws on extensive research, poignant stories from some of the thousands of patients she has treated, and her own compelling personal experience, to examine the bias from both patients’ and health‑care providers’ points of view. She offers a bold blueprint for change, filled with fresh solutions that can help everyone in our health-care system.

Dismissed not only explains what so many people feel so profoundly—that the system is working against them. It also reveals what health-care practitioners, patients, and society in general can do to make it right.

Angela Marshall, MD, FACP, is the founder of Comprehensive Women’s Health, Inc., a primary care practice for women with two locations in the Washington, DC area. A Board-Certified Internist and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, she is an expert on all forms of bias in health care and how they affect both individuals and our society at large. Throughout her medical career, Dr. Marshall has impacted the lives of thousands of women by promoting a style of medical practice that emphasizes patient-centered empathic listening. She has been repeatedly named ‘Top Doctor’ by the Washingtonian Magazine and is the recipient of the 2020 Maryland Top 100 Women Award, 2015 Enterprising Woman of the Year Award by Enterprising Women Magazine, SmartCEO Magazine’s Brava Award, and the Circle of Excellence Award. A contributing health expert on CNN, Fox News, PBS NewsHour, and OWN, Dr. Marshall currently chairs the Board of Directors for the Black Women’s Health Imperative and is a staunch advocate for achieving health equity for medically vulnerable populations. She lives outside Washington DC and can be found online at AngelaMarshallMD.com.
 
Kathy Palokoff is the founder of goFirestarter, a company that helps changemakers ignite, fuel, and accelerate their growth and fulfill their missions. A mentor and educator, she has taught at Syracuse University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology and Nazareth College. She holds a BS in Journalism from West Virginia University, Master’s in Public Administration from SUNY at Brockport, and completed doctorate coursework from Rensselaer Polytechnic institute in communications and rhetoric. Visit her on facebook @gofirestarter or at gofirestarter.com.