Full Text of HR0025 102nd General Assembly
HR0025 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | HR0025 | | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The American field of medicine has long been | 3 | | predominantly white, and systemic racism and discrimination | 4 | | have driven health disparities along racial lines; implicit | 5 | | bias has had an impact on the quality of provider services, | 6 | | while living in poverty has limited access to healthy food and | 7 | | preventive care; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Currently, Black patients experience worse health | 9 | | outcomes and higher rates of conditions like hypertension and | 10 | | diabetes; Black babies in the U.S. are up to three times more | 11 | | likely to die in the days and weeks following their births | 12 | | compared to white babies; Blacks, Latinos, and Native | 13 | | Americans have suffered disproportionately during the COVID-19 | 14 | | pandemic; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The racist past of the medical profession has had | 16 | | a devastating effect on the lives and careers of Black | 17 | | Americans, both for those seeking care from the medical | 18 | | profession and for those serving in the medical profession; | 19 | | and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, In 1934, Dr. Roland B. Scott was the first | 21 | | African-American to pass the pediatric board exam; he was a | 22 | | faculty member at Howard University and established its center |
| | | HR0025 | - 2 - | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | for the study of sickle cell disease; he gained national | 2 | | acclaim for his research on the blood disorder; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, When Dr. Scott applied for membership with the | 4 | | American Academy of Pediatrics with its one criteria for | 5 | | admission being board certification, he was rejected multiple | 6 | | times beginning in 1939; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Scott was eventually accepted along with his | 8 | | Howard professor, Dr. Alonzo deGrate Smith, another Black | 9 | | pediatrician; they were only allowed to join for educational | 10 | | purposes and were not permitted to attend meetings in the | 11 | | South, ostensibly for their safety; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, More than a half-century later, the American | 13 | | Academy of Pediatrics has formally apologized for its racist | 14 | | actions, including its initial rejections of Drs. Scott and | 15 | | Smith on the basis of their race; the group also changed its | 16 | | bylaws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, | 17 | | religion, sexual orientation or gender identity; they | 18 | | acknowledged that the apology was long overdue and was | 19 | | prompted by the example of another organization that | 20 | | confronted its racist past, the American Medical Association; | 21 | | and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, Few medical organizations have confronted the |
| | | HR0025 | - 3 - | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | roles they played in blocking opportunities for Black | 2 | | advancement in the medical profession until the formal | 3 | | apologies by the American Medical Association and, more | 4 | | recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The A.M.A. issued an apology in 2008 for its more | 6 | | than century-long history of discriminating against | 7 | | African-American physicians; for decades, the organization | 8 | | predicated its membership on joining a local or state medical | 9 | | society, many of which excluded Black physicians, especially | 10 | | in the South; the A.M.A.'s apology came in the wake of a paper | 11 | | published in the Journal of the American Medical Association | 12 | | that examined a number of discriminatory aspects of the | 13 | | group's history, including its efforts to close | 14 | | African-American medical schools; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, For some Black physicians, exclusion from the | 16 | | A.M.A. meant the loss of career advancement opportunities; | 17 | | others struggled to gain access to the postgraduate training | 18 | | they needed for certification in certain medical specialties; | 19 | | as a result, many Black physicians were limited to becoming | 20 | | general practitioners, especially in the South; some | 21 | | facilities also required A.M.A. membership for admitting | 22 | | privileges to hospitals; and
| 23 | | WHEREAS, By 1964, the A.M.A. changed its position and |
| | | HR0025 | - 4 - | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | refused to certify medical societies that discriminated on the | 2 | | basis of race, but persistent segregation in local groups | 3 | | still limited Black physicians' access to certain hospitals, | 4 | | as well as opportunities for specialty training and | 5 | | certification; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The A.M.A. also played a role in limiting medical | 7 | | educational opportunities available to Black physicians; in | 8 | | the early 20th century, before the medical field held the same | 9 | | prestige it does today, the A.M.A. commissioned a report | 10 | | assessing the country's medical schools for their rigor; the | 11 | | report deemed much of the country's medical education system | 12 | | substandard; it also recommended closing all but two of the | 13 | | country's seven Black medical schools; as the field became | 14 | | more exclusive, it also became more white; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Between its restrictions on medical education and | 16 | | its exclusionary membership, the A.M.A. played a role in | 17 | | cultivating the profession's homogeneity, which it | 18 | | acknowledged in its 2008 statement; it has since appointed a | 19 | | chief health equity officer and established a center for | 20 | | health equity; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, In an effort to address this history of racial | 22 | | discrimination and biases in the medical profession, Chicago's | 23 | | largest hospitals and clinics have officially named racism a |
| | | HR0025 | - 5 - | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | public health crisis, a very real threat to the health of their | 2 | | patients, families and communities; in an open letter, 36 | 3 | | organizations committed to improving health equity across the | 4 | | city; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, In addition to supporting programs that help | 6 | | people of color find healthcare jobs, each organization is | 7 | | pledging to provide anti-racism training for staff and create | 8 | | new policies that promote equity; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The group, which collectively treats more than 8 | 10 | | million patients, includes large Chicago-based hospital chains | 11 | | like Rush, safety nets like Loretto Hospital that treat large | 12 | | numbers of low-income patients, and a number of | 13 | | government-funded clinics like Esperanza Health Centers; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, It is time for our State to collectively address | 15 | | this racial discrimination throughout the medical profession, | 16 | | past and present, to improve the quality of life for all; | 17 | | therefore, be it
| 18 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 19 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 20 | | we urge all branches of the medical profession to commit to | 21 | | eliminating racism and recognizing biases; and be it further
|
| | | HR0025 | - 6 - | LRB102 03850 MST 13864 r |
|
| 1 | | RESOLVED, That we urge all colleges and medical | 2 | | institutions that prepare students for careers in the medical | 3 | | profession to focus on the recruitment of more minorities; and | 4 | | be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the State Board of Higher Education | 6 | | to pursue and provide more scholarships opportunities for | 7 | | minority applicants seeking to enter all aspects of the | 8 | | medical profession; and be it further
| 9 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 10 | | presented to all members of the Illinois General Assembly, the | 11 | | Governor of Illinois, the State Board of Higher Education, all | 12 | | medical schools in Illinois, all hospitals in Illinois, all | 13 | | clinics in Illinois, all public libraries in Illinois, and the | 14 | | Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, with the hope | 15 | | that they distribute a copy to all seeking licensure or | 16 | | re-licensure for any medical-related field.
|
|