Healers and strangers. Immigrant attitudes toward the physician in America--a relationship in historical perspective
A. M. Kraut
Department of History, American University, Washington, DC 20016-8038.
The current wave of immigration to the United States--mostly Asians and
Latin Americans--may well be the largest in the 20th century. Many
newcomers practice habits of health and hygiene deficient by American
standards. Some prefer the shaman to the physician and traditional herb
remedies to modern medical therapies. Physicians find themselves practicing
at an invisible border separating them from their foreign-born patients,
where differences of language and culture can lead to misunderstanding and
frustration, impeding a physician's ability to gain cooperation with
prescribed therapy. Similar issues faced physicians at the turn of the
century. Newly arrived Italians, East European Jews, and Chinese were often
ambivalent toward physicians and their therapies. Quacks further undermined
the physician's credibility among immigrants. Today, some physicians try
collaborating with shamans and herbalists to accommodate patients' cultural
preferences. Respect for the customs and taboos of immigrant patients pays
dividends in physician effectiveness and efficiency.
