Report
Ella Daneshmand, Sara Isteffan, Karlijn Stenvers and Tobias Alexander.

Gothenburg, 18-10-2022
Reading time 3-5 min.

The doctors union has neglected cases of discrimination and discouraged members to report discrimination. Such was stated by multiple witnesses. “Malin” and “Klara” are among them and agreed to talk to us about their experience.

A report by the DO, dated 13th of november 2020, showed that the Doctor’s Union appears to play an active role in silencing discrimination reported by a member. This case of antisemitism ended with the union advising the victim to keep this matter silent in order to protect the career of the accused as well as ‘the work this union does’. 

Klara commented on this, stating:
– I have witnessed several times that other people have been advised against taking matters further.

The DO finally concluded that the Union discriminated against their member by law, but the matter was not taken to court.
Hampus Carlsson, the political secretary for the Doctors Union, responds that these reports do not represent the entire organisation of the union, he refers us to the local representatives instead. However, the witnesses we spoke to had actually contacted the head body of the union with their statements.

This conversation sheds light on the larger issue of seen but silenced discrimination within the Swedish healthcare system, and its’ consequences.

The Cost of Silence

When discrimination led to the death of a patient, by a misdiagnosis of ‘cultural fainting’,  the crisis reached a breaking point resulting in doctor’s and med-students starting a petition against discrimination. This was in March 2021, over one and a half years ago, but the call has gone unanswered. Members of the petition argued that “nothing has changed”. 

“I witness racism towards patients everyday. I have seen colored patients receive delayed care, poorer care, poorer pain relief with the risk of serious injury or even death as a result”

– “Malin”

The same kind of unrecognized discrimination was seen with another case in the Västra Götaland-and Jämtland region, where the continued use of racially biased information in a medical document for the application of EMLA cream on children went without any response.  

It was only after we contacted these two regions, and alerted them that they were disseminating disproven, racially biased information that they removed these instructions from their public domain. 

When requesting an interview with Peter Dahm, the Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Sahlgrenska in the region of Västra Götaland, we were referred to an outdated study. The EMLA document has since been revised. Peter Dahm commented via an email:

“The effect of EMLA linked to skin type is not completely clear, but since there is no clear scientific support for an extended application time linked to skin type, the business has revised the routine.”

Article by Tobias Alexanders and Karlijn Stenvers