I will not forget a patient I met in our emergency room being rushed to the operating room because of a bowel perforation that could have been avoided.

She was an African American student who had multiple visits to the ER for abdominal pain and progressive weight loss; she was told it was due to stress, given anxiolytic, acid suppression and was even questioned whether she was seeking pain drugs. At her third ER visit, a CT scan was finally done and showed inflammation of a long segment of the terminal ileum; she was given antibiotics and narcotics on the assumption this represented an infectious enteritis. Before she could make it to her first appointment with a gastroenterologist, she presented to our emergency room with bowel perforation and required an urgent surgery that left her with an ostomy.

This patient didn’t receive timely and appropriate evaluation of her abdominal pain, her symptoms were ignored and minimized, and adequate referral to a specialist was delayed. When her CT scan findings were compatible with Crohn’s disease in the context of her symptoms, the diagnosis was missed likely because Crohn’s disease was deemed unlikely in an African American woman.

As gastroenterologists, our mission is to prevent and treat GI illnesses in all our patients, regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity. However, minorities patients often face many barriers to care, causing delays in diagnosis and in initiating appropriate therapies. We must better understand the factors that drive health disparities so we can address them properly and effectively.

Let’s come together as a community and fund the research we need to achieve GI health equity! Let us be part of the change!

This patient is one of the reasons Dr. Charabaty supports AGA Giving Day.