Week 8: Native American Medical Bias

 The U.S has had an extremely violent history, starting with Native Americans. Many tribes were exterminated by colonizers from England, constantly raiding their towns and villages and taking their land. Their place in American History has unfortunately been one that has been repressed and overshadowed. This includes in the medical field. Native Americans have made many medical inventions and pioneered plant-based medicine, even if they were not given credit from Americans and Europeans. One example of this is the syringe. Native Americans made the first version of a hypodermic syringe out of hollowed out sharpened bird bones. However, this invention was credited to a Scottish doctor in 1850, long after Native Americans invented them. A few other inventions of theirs were the first baby bottles and baby formulas. Their baby bottles weren't as sanitary as they are today, but they were the first record of them to exist. They discovered capsaicin and jimson weed could be used as topical ointments, made innovated mouthwash out of goldthread, and used Peyote and physical methods as anesthesia, when Europeans did not have any anesthesia known to them. One of their largest overlooked contributions to the medical world was the use of Saline. Saline is a pain-relieving chemical that can be found in the willow bark they chewed and is the main ingredient in aspirin. These things are used on a daily basis, but despite this the origin of their invention is unknown by the majority of the American population and usually isn't taught in schools. In fact many are credited to incorrect people or civilizations, like with the syringe. As more and more native erasure is instated in schools, it is likely that these origins will come to common light unless through social media. And much of Native American medical knowledge was lost in massacres of tribes and the trail of tears. In the process of assimilation, Native American children were put in schools to become more European and forced them to become disconnected to their culture and families, which widened the gap of knowledge. Luckily some tribes were able to survive and pass down their ways in healing, which they practice on reservations. Healthcare on reservations is in particularly horrible quality. This is due to government underfunding. 2.2 million out of 3.4 million Natives of the United States get care through IHS, which the government only allots for a 4.4 billion budget for. However, the budget needed for safe healthcare is closer to 15.5 billion. Reservation hospitals suffer from undertrained and lack of staff, and have found to not properly secure their drugs and syringes. Debra Free was a women who died of a heart attack in Winnebago Hospital due to negligent staff on the reservation. This disparities in treatment exist because of the history of racism and those whose beliefs still align with the ideals of Manifest destiny, which should have past us long ago by now. 

sources:

Healthcare On Native American Reservations Is 'Horrifying:' In The US, Who You Are Affects How You're Treated Feb 5, 2016 By Dana Dovey, Medical Daily

Native American History: A Tale of Medicine, January 10th 2017, by Charles Smith, The Differential- The University of Arizona Colledge of Medicine

Native Americans' many contributions to medicine | ShareAmerica