(Ep 268) Harriet A. Washington: Exposing Hidden Truths

Harriett A. Washington is featured this episode for her incredible work in cataloguing historical and present day medical abuses experienced by Black patients within the medical industry. Her research provides the stark reality of how practically racial biases are applied everyday in medical offices, hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

Often Black patients’ suspicion of doctors is dismissed as hyper paranoia related to the Tuskegee Study. Such disregard suggests the Tuskegee was a one-off atrocity. Harriet Washington’s research exposes the reality of the exploitation, abuses, under treatment, over treatment and savage treatment by doctors against Black people from the antebellum to the present.

In other words, Harriet’s work is confirmation of the sentiments many Black people have concerning the medical industry as less myth than hyper vigilance against true and real medical perversions experienced throughout American history.

This episode highlights three of her books:

1. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (2006)

2. Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself—And the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future (2011)

3.Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent (2021)

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