Asian Patients' distrust of western medical care: one perspective

Asian patients receive, with significant frequency, suboptimal medical care. The sources of shortcomings in the treatment of the Asian American patient are examined in this paper. I argue that it is mainly a failure to interpret patient behavior correctly which causes suboptimal treatment. Such failure stems not from prejudice, but from a lack of understanding of, much less respect for, the systems of thought about health and illness which form the basis for the traditional or tradition-influenced Asian American patient's approach to illness. "Noncompliant" patient behavior is misunderstood if the physician does not grasp the roots of such behavior in a system of beliefs which is not his own. Misunderstanding begets further "noncompliance," initiating a downward spiral. The way out of such spirals lies, I argue, in seeking a more adequate understanding of the patient's beliefs and their behavioral consequences.