Indicator history

A doctor offended a Kurdish woman during a visit to the orthopaedic clinic at the Central Hospital in Karlstad. The woman sought treatment for pain in the knees and thighs. When she walked into the reception room together with the interpreter the doctor asked why she had not learned Swedish, despite living in Sweden for 15 years. He repeated the question several times and also commented on her facial tattoos. The woman felt so bad after the visit that she has not sought medical attention since, even though the symptoms continue. The Equality Ombudsman sued the County Council for direct discrimination and harassment due to ethnicity. A settlement was reached with the County Council awarding the woman 30,000 kronor (3,000 euros).^[1]

In December 2010, the Equality Ombudsman and the County Council of Västra Götaland, represented by Primary Care in Southern Bohuslän, made a settlement that awarded a migrant woman 25,000 SEK (2,500 euros). The woman had sought treatment for a long-lasting, severe psychological disorder. The doctor refused to write out a sick leave letter for her. Instead the doctor asked the woman: “Why do you need to stay in this country if you do not like it here?”[2]

In a report by Veronica Svedhem Johansson, she describes the failure of the Swedish Health Care  at detecting the prevalence of hiv-infection among immigrant women. Of the people diagnosed with hiv/aids in a late stage, half were women from Africa. Several women got the diagnoses too late and had already a weakened immune system, developed aids and died. The study is based on 82 cases with people who received their hiv-diagnoses in 2007.  Many of the women from Africa had seeked health care for symptoms that are very common when having hiv, but they were not tested (http://www.sht.bz/Fler%20afrikanska%20kvinnor%20ska%20hivtestas.pdf) Accessed 2012-03-10