It’s all Theory Until Medical Objectification and Racism Happens to You

#CSI wishes law enforcement was that way, and #NewAmsterdam wishes medicine was that way. But the reality is a different thing. Disclaimer: This is a review of season 1.

Update: Many the criticisms I have of this show, in terms of institutional racism, racism in medicine directed towards BIPOC, specifically African-American women in medicine were directly addressed in Season 3, Episode 6 and 7. I’m still catching up on the show and I’m not exactly sure if they will cover corrupt doctors. But overall this show is well done, expertly acted and well-written. I call it the Pot Roast of dramatic series, overdone in spots but that’s what makes it tasty. I really do love the show for what it’s trying to do. So take my criticisms more as first impressions. This is good television.

Medical Racism and Objectification is all Theory Until it Claims the Life of Someone You Love

Let me give you my backstory so my critical review of my favorite show comes from a place of love, and not hate. Or at the very least, not contempt and disdain. Though it may seem that way. I’ll try to be brief.

Aside from losing my mother at the age of 16, and her liver transplant doctor telling me on the phone at the age of 14 that “Your mother needs this transplant or she’ll die.” There were few negative things I felt about doctors or nurses. They saved my life at 14 after I was hit by a truck, saved my Mom at least for a year or two, even sewed my father’s ear back on after a fall down a flight of stairs. I thought all doctors were good and honorable. I was a child of the 70’s.

Then life happened. I became a long-term caregiver for my father, who in 2001, after 9-11 developed full-blown PTSD from his WWII Days. I would discover his home torn apart, and he had done a good job of hiding the symptoms. He, being 50 years older than me, it fell to me to be his caregiver. Family couldn’t have cared less. So I did the job until 2017, when he passed. He didn’t pass due to old age, he passed through medical incompetent and abandonment of care by the VA.