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Why E.R. Will Never Have an Asian Male Doctor

"Several years ago, I had a ritual where I would have lunch with several Asian American friends at a Chinese restaurant every Sunday afternoon. Although women were often a part of this lunch group, it was mostly young Asian American men. Unintentionally, it turned out that most of these Asian American men in my Sunday lunchtime ritual were either physicians or attending medical school.

These Asian American men that I was friends and acquainted with weren’t just run-of-the-mill doctors. They had, or were attending, some of the best medical schools in the world. Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UCSF, and other fine medical schools were represented during those Chinese restaurant get-togethers. These doctors or future doctors were often interns or residents of some of the best teaching hospitals in a major metropolitan area. Some of these Asian American male doctors are making valuable contributions to cutting edge medical procedures and technology. Others are top-notch surgeons dealing with the most complex cases. Others are providing a high quality of care to both emergency room (often abbreviated, e.r.) patients or in their own medical offices. I knew of at least one Asian American male doctor in my circle of friends/acquaintances that is providing medical care and other vital social services to orphans in a Third World country.

As an Asian American man, being surrounded by these incredibly accomplished medical professionals, I began to wonder whether there was anyone other than Asian American men who were becoming top-notch physicians. That’s a silly thought, I know.

But there is something even sillier than thinking that most of the best doctors in America are Asian American men. What is truly ridiculous is to think that there are no Asian American male doctors in a major teaching hospital in America or, even worse, that there are no Asian men who are physicians at all in America.

Who would be stupid enough to think that? Who would be nutty enough to think that they could attempt to portray the medical profession in America based on a notion as ludicrous as suggesting that there are no Asian American men who are doctors in America?

Hollywood.

There has never been a major Asian American male character that has been a doctor on the long running NBC medical drama E.R. This show supposedly takes place in a hospital that would be affiliated with a major medical school in a major city, Chicago. Yet, there are no Asian American men of any note that are doctors in this supposedly venerable series.

Grey’s Anatomy? House (M.D.)? No, they have neglected to have Asian men as doctors in those shows as well. But it’s E.R.’s – the longest running and most respected of the bunch – inability to admit to the fact there might be at least one Asian American man that would be a physician in such a hospital that is the most troubling and bizarre."

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