Discrimination in medicine

As the current political situation in France shows, discrimination is rife. So why should the situation in medicine be any different? The 50 rapid responses to our recent editorial on racism in medicine are proof that discrimination in medicine is alive and well.¹ This is hardly surprising in a culture where a consultant surgeon thinks there is nothing wrong in saying to a junior: “You are not operating on bloody Nigerians here. You are operating on normal human beings.”²

But discrimination has many forms, not just racial. At a time where more than 60% of students applying to British medical schools are female, only 6% of consultant surgeons are women.³,⁴ In addition, over 90% of women want to work part time, but despite recent efforts to make flexible training more accessible there is still nowhere near the number of places necessary.⁵,⁶ Two women who successfully completed their preregistration house officer jobs by working flexibly said: “The NHS will benefit from having two more doctors, whereas it might have had neither of us.”⁷

Homophobia in medicine is also a problem. Again, a consultant apparently sees nothing wrong with telling two of his medical students that he got a nurse taken off his team because he thought the nurse was gay.⁸ Only half of clinical students think that homosexual activity could form part of an acceptable lifestyle.⁹

Then, of course, there is disability, or physical or mental illness. Although doctors are aware they should know better, they still discriminate against their ill colleagues, those with mental illness in particular.¹⁰,¹¹ The BMA has recently launched a campaign for allowing disabled students access to medical school.¹² It is exactly a year since we launched the matching scheme for doctors who have a chronic illness, and I have been very moved by letters and emails from doctors all around who have had their lives made even harder by inconsiderate colleagues.¹³

One of the added miseries of being discriminated against is the feeling of isolation it brings. Many doctors feel they are alone in battling against the world, fearing that speaking out could harm their careers. This is where the BMJ Careers discrimination matching scheme, (bmjcareers.com/discrimination) launched today, could help (see special issue of Career focus in this week's BMJ Careers).

The scheme works in exactly the same way as the chronic illness matching scheme (see box), and it aims to match doctors who feel they are being discriminated against in some way by their specific requirements. When a suitable match applies, both doctors are sent each other's email addresses so they can contact each other for informal advice and support.

I am aware that we have left out some forms of discrimination, such as religion and age, and the scheme will not stamp out all the evils of discrimination in medicine so prevalent today. Hopefully, though, it will help doctors who are discriminated against to know that they do not have to suffer in silence. So if this is you, please join up or contact some of the organisations in the links. We are here to help you.

How to use the BMJ 's matching scheme

• Go to www.bmjcareers.com/discrimination

• Choose which option applies to you (race; gender; sexual orientation; illness; disability)

• Each option has been divided into specific categories (for example, specific ethnic group) that you can select when you click on the main option

• You can also choose to be matched by gender, specialty, grade, or country, but obviously the more specific you are the less chance you have of being matched quickly

• Submit your electronic form and wait

• When a suitable match for you applies, you will be sent their email address automatically. The rest is up to you