I just had my annual physical. Every December or January I make it a point to have one. Even after my healthcare provider, some years back, said that I did not need a yearly physical, I ignored them.
While I
was awaiting my doctor, I had an unusual and disturbing conversation with a
nurse who I see when I come for appointments. She was very distraught and told me that she was changing
jobs (in the medical profession) for several reasons but what troubled me was
how unsettled she was about the condition of Black American health.
I assumed
that she was talking about the statistics with which many of us are familiar,
such as the discrepancy in treatment for blacks vs. whites, or the higher rates
of prostate cancer among black men compared with white men. No, that was not actually what she was
talking about. She said, “Mr.
Fletcher, our people are just not taking care of themselves.”
Once she
had started to talk there was no stopping her. She was both angry and sad at the condition of Black
American health. She spoke with me
about how patient after patient refuses to come in for important tests; that
when notified about special clinics, e.g., diabetes, too many Black patients
take a pass; and that appointments that are made, are so quickly broken.
I
listened to her and said that there seems to be a high level of denial when it
comes to health among too many African Americans. A friend of mine, I mentioned to her, who had a history of
colon cancer in his family, refused to get checked out, even after he had
presented with troubling symptoms. By the time he was checked out he was in Stage 4 colon cancer and
subsequently died.
There is
a perverse approach to health that many of us suffer from. If the problem were only that people
could not afford healthcare, this could be addressed by political demands to
expand healthcare coverage (Note: Which we will need to do in any case given
the weaknesses of the healthcare reform legislation passed in 2009 and the
potential threat to it by the Republicans). But that is not what my nurse was talking about. She was addressing the problem of
people who HAVE healthcare coverage but are in utter denial of the need for
regular checkups, screening, preventive care and addressing problems as soon as
they occur.
Too many
of us seem to be operating on the basis of the notion that it is better to not
know. I understand that once you
find out the truth your life may change. An associate of mine, years ago, refused to get an HIV test after his
wife was tested positive for HIV and later AIDS. He never, to my knowledge, got the test, despite pleas from
his wife. I am sure that he is no
longer with us.
While we
can make excuses for not taking care of ourselves, e.g., we have too much going
on in our lives, at the end of the day it does not add up. Leaving aside the many
contributions most of us can make
if we lead good, productive, long lives, what about those who depend on
us? Or is this really about some
sort of collective death wish that emerges from despair about the conditions in
which we find ourselves? In either
case, it is prematurely taking away from the collective us, those we need and
love, and leaving in its place a low-intensity sadness that becomes so very
hard to shake.
I was
told a story recently of a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was at the stage where she was
informed that she needed a mastectomy. She refused on the grounds that men would no longer
find her attractive following such an operation. Needless to say, she died. I kept wondering who she left behind when she passed away
and whether her appearance actually mattered when she was in her casket.
Bill
Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the
immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-author of “Solidarity
Divided.”
