Saying No

By Our Readers • November 2015

In the early 1990s B. and I were both thirteen years old and in love. Because she was African American and I was white, our classmates would stare at and taunt us when we walked down the hallways at school holding hands. One time I called B.’s house, and her brother answered the phone and said she wasn’t allowed to date “crackers,” and I shouldn’t call again. When I saw B. the next day, she cried and said she still wanted to be with me; we would just have to keep our relationship a secret.

Our Readers

Correspondence

Bravo to Renee Boss for her courageous stand on behalf of her patient while facing the scorn of the head surgeon at her medical school [Reader’s Write on “Saying No,” November 2015]. Unfortunately I predict Boss will face more of the same as she progresses through her clinical years. American medical-school faculties are made up overwhelmingly of specialists, who often regard an interest in primary-care medicine as a sign that a student is substandard, even though our country needs more primary-care physicians.

Having taught family medicine for twenty-five years, I often counseled students with an interest in primary care about the rewards of getting to know your patients and helping them make decisions about their health.

Frank C. Snope, M.D. Medford, New Jersey

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