Elenamary

I was working at a women’s health clinic doing medical interpretation.  The doctor and I had just seen a patient, a young woman from Oaxaca, Mexico whose Spanish had an indigenous language accent, I would guess Zapoteco but I have had Mixteco speaking patients as well. When we left the room, the Anglo doctor who had lived in the Dominican Republic and spoke Spanish fluently (I would assume as a Mormon missionary) said, “When she gets referred to an ObGyn we need to make sure they test her for Turner Syndrome”.

I hadn’t ever heard of Turner Syndrome and so I asked the doctor what it was.  He explained it as a chromosomal disorder in females.  Inquisitively I asked how he could tell she had a chromosomal disorder as he’d only been in the room a few minutes.  He described Turner Syndrome as characterized by short, stocky women, with thick necks and a non-proportionate torso to body.  To which I replied “I don’t think it is Turner Syndrome.  I think we call that Mexican, particularly those of Oaxaca, where she is from.”

Cultural difference?

Part of the reason I feel a need to be a doctor is because my community needs people of their own practicing medicine. And this leads to Miles Curtiss and I doing a podcast on a pressure to excel as POC because we have had privilege and opportunity and if we don’t give to our own communities then who? Podcast should be posted on Monday.