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A Worn Path By Eudora Welty

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Eudora Weltys, “A Worn Path” is a story about the struggles people of color endure. Throughout the story we see elderly Phoenix Jackson going to great lengths to access medicine for her sickly grandson. She faces harsh conditions all throughout her journey to the city to retrieve the medicine. Once in the city Phoenix Jackson is met with people, nurses, who discriminate against her and make it harder for her to obtain the medical treatment she needs. “A Worn Path” shows how difficult it was for people of color to access medical care and treatment and even now people of color still struggle to get the proper care and attention they need. In the 1940’s, communities primarily made up by people of color had limited access to medical care. In …show more content…

There have been many instances in which people of color have been denied medical help because of racial discrimination against them. In the book, “Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care”, Dr. Gordon Moskowitz states “A physician’s recollection of stereotyped information she or he associates with a patient’s racial or ethnic group may crowd out the physician’s unbiased assessment and treatment decisions about the individual minority patient she or he is treating.”. In “A Worn Path”, Welty does an excellent job demonstrating the bias held against Phoenix Jackson. Phoenix being a black woman was racially discriminated against all throughout her journey. Her grandson was only given a treatment to help soothe his sickness and not cure entirely. This goes to show that the doctor did not care whether or not her grandson was cured, they just wanted to give him a temporary cure to dismiss him and not focus on him any longer. Dayna Bowen Matthew, in “Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care'' says “researchers found that providers bring negative prior beliefs about blacks’ intelligence, proclivity to engage in risky behavior, and likelihood of medical cooperativeness or adherence to prescribed regimens to influence their treatment recommendations.”. Even today there is still prejudice held against people of color, thus causing medical professionals to provide inadequate care for

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