However, since his hospitalization, there has been much discussion about the lack of transparency that his campaign has provided regarding the events surrounding his health. After all, it was only this week that Fetterman offered a detailed explanation. Initially, his team asserted that the implantation of both a pacemaker and a defibrillator was a routine procedure. However, observers within the medical community believed that the use of the latter signaled the more serious problem, cardiomyopathy, a weakened heart muscle. This was eventually confirmed by both Fetterman and his physician.
But what is most remarkable about this episode is that Fetterman admittedly received this diagnosis five years ago. At that time, he was also prescribed medication and provided with a regime to follow that would avoid any future issues. Astonishingly, during the subsequent period, he not only didn’t follow this advice, but he also chose not to see a doctor at all as a follow-up measure. Had it not been for his wife forcing him to go to the hospital when it was apparent that something was wrong, he could have very easily died.
Yet, John Fetterman isn’t alone when it comes to avoiding doctors and disregarding medical advice. A survey conducted by The Harris Poll for Orlando Health in May found that one-third of men don’t think that they need to undergo annual health screenings. Almost two-thirds of respondents think that they are naturally more healthy than others, and two out of five receive most of their medical information from social media. Moreover, men are less likely than women to undergo annual physicals and more likely to neglect cholesterol tests, which is why men who are in their 50s suffer more heart attacks than women.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
- 13.2% of men in the U.S. aged 18 and older are in “fair or poor” health
- 14.1% of men aged 18 and older smoke cigarettes
- 40.5% of men aged 20 and older have obesity
- 51.9% of men aged 20 and older have high blood pressure and/ or were taking medicine for hypertension
- men in the U.S. die an average of 5 years earlier than women.
But the trepidation with regard to doctor visits and participation in health screenings is even more acute among Black men, who unlike Black women don’t view their health through a lens of importance. African American men between the ages of 45-54 are three times as likely as Whites to die from a stroke and whose risk of contracting prostate cancer is 74 percent higher. Still further, recent trends show that the three leading causes of death among Black men are stroke, cancer, and COVID. But most frustrating is the fact that Black men continue to die from, colon and prostate cancer, when screenings that are extremely valuable as tools for early detection and treatment are easily accessible.
There’s no doubt that racism and health disparities in communities of color have exacerbated this problem. In fact, in a recent California survey, it was found that Black men have little trust in White and Asian doctors and are more prone to seek out Black physicians. However, the problem with that mindset is African Americans only comprise four percent of all medical doctors. In essence, demand outweighs supply. Consequently, many Black men don’t address illnesses until they have progressed, and efforts to do so become more problematic.
I’ve had conversations with many men from a diversity of backgrounds who view going to a doctor as an inconvenience or with dread. The idea that a positive diagnosis of some type could be received causes such fear in some men that inaction is viewed as the better alternative. Fortunately, the women in the lives of many men serve as the catalysts that motivate them to finally seek medical assessments and therapies. This was true with John Fetterman and his experience should further incentivize us all to be the best we can be healthwise. As someone once told me, “It’s better to be seen than viewed.”