Dr Grubbs Analysis

Throughout our reflective practice sessions, few stories have hit me the way that Dr. Grubbs story has. Initially, I found myself strongly doubting that the racial bias she suggested was actually existent in within the transplant system. That doubt quickly became disappointment in myself and an even larger disappointment in the system. As only a well written story with a dramatic and unexpected twist can do, the end of this story brought a couple tears to my eyes. My initial doubt was a large part denial. I am a young, naïve medical student in so many ways, and it is hard for me to believe that my future field could be so unfair. Surely, there was a better reason for Robert’s struggle to find a kidney. I even believed for a second that Dr. Grubbs was not telling the whole story due to her own emotional involvement. After all, the
first rule of doctoring is “do no harm” so the transplant nephrologist must have had a good reason to make Robert wait so long. Honestly, until I realized how readily they accepted Dr. Grubbs as a donor for Robert I believed there had to be more to the story. Then came the disappointment. I realized that Dr. Grubbs was likely being truthful based on the fact that as soon as they had a willing donor specifically for Robert, the process was expedited. If he was truly at some increased risk it seems they would have taken this process more slowly, especially considering risk was being introduced to the life of another healthy individual also. Granted, I still do not know the transplant nephrologist’s side of the story, however other points Dr. Grubbs made began to sink in. The largest of those points being that if he was willing to exclude African American’s from a study to obtain better results, what is to say he wouldn’t preferentially transplant kidneys based on race? This is clearly poor research ethics, which in my opinion makes it probable that he is not the most ethical physician either. I did not choose to do any research for myself about whether African Americans tend to experience more rejection, or if type O is actually the most common blood type in this country, therefore I have no proof that what Dr. Grubbs said is true. Based on the fact that she chose to give up her own kidney rather than fight the system and potentially cause harm to Robert, my instinct tells me she is likely a rational woman making it seem less likely for her to fabricate such a story. I am aware that much racial bias still exists in our country as a whole, so I must admit there is a very good possibility that there is racial bias in medicine as well. The ending of the story was both beautiful and depressing.
The fact that Dr. Grubbs acted in such a selfless way gave me a strong appreciation for her. The depressing part is that she had to go to such lengths to save the man she loved. The fact that he had been suffering unnecessarily for so long when medicine could have helped him brought a couple tears to my eyes. I understand that transplanted organs are a limited resource, but based on the fact that there were others at the same point in the wait list as Robert who had spent less time on dialysis and had less need overall makes the racial bias in medicine all too real. This story was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. It opened my eyes to my own bias in addition to the fact that racial bias in medicine is still a very real problem. With this came disappointment. I am disappointed in myself for believing that the race issue is a problem of the past and I am disappointed in medicine for still having racial bias. I was delighted that the story had a happy ending, however disheartened because it should not have taken such extreme lengths to end that
way.