FEAR AND DESCRIMINATION IMPEDES CARE

Mrs. Washington, an African American female, was 55 years old when she was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. She had been responding well to radiation and chemotherapy when her health took a turn for the worse – her cancer spread to her bones.

But when her doctor recommended she return to the hospital, she refused, saying she was too busy as the single parent of three children. She was also caring for two grandsons and her mother. 

"I’ve got no time to die. What would happen to this place?" she asks. She knows she is dying, but doesn’t want to focus on herself. Her only comfort is prayer. 

She ordered her doctors to "do everything you can to keep me alive." Yet she is not happy with the care she is receiving.

What she really fears is receiving substandard care, which she says is typical for African Americans who face frequent discrimination by medical professionals.

Today, Mrs. Washington is alone in bearing the pain of lung cancer and the emotional issues of dying – she has not told her children because she does not want them to worry about her.