For physicians, the words “I can’t breathe” are a primal cry for help. As many physicians have left their comfort zones to care for patients with Covid-19–associated respiratory failure, the role of the medical profession in addressing this life defining need has rarely been clearer. But as George Floyd’s repeated cry of “I can’t breathe” while he was being murdered by a Minneapolis police officer has resounded through the country, the physician’s role has seemed less clear. Police brutality against black people, and the systemic racism of which it is but one lethal manifestation is a festering public health crisis. Can the medical profession use the tools in its armamentarium to address this deep-rooted disease?

"Black patients are generally less likely than whites to see a dermatologist and less likely to undergo screening for skin cancer. Even when they do see a dermatologist, studies have shown, Black patients are less likely to get certain treatments than white people with the same conditions, like oral antibiotics for acne."

• "Arabs/Muslims: may not request pain medicine but instead thank Allah for pain if it is the result of a healing medical procedure”
• "Blacks: believe suffering and pain are inevitable.”
• “Asians: Chinese patients may not want to ask for medication because they do not want to take the nurse away from a more important task"

"If you're ignoring this part of their experience, if you're not understanding the impact of being Black on them in this country and on their mental health, you're doing a disservice to them, and I don't know how you can treat them effectively." 

"However, we must acknowledge as a transplant community that racial disparities continue to exist in transplantation, as evidenced in several recent publications...the reasons for these disparities are medically and socially complex, and we must continually strive to reduce these inequities."