Negligent by Design
Anti-Blackness in American Medicine and How to Address It
$43.55
- Paperback
192 pages
- Release Date
2 September 2025
Summary
A searing critique of medical racism and a powerful call for health-care professionals to make real change in their field, written by a leading activist and doctor.
Unequal access to care. Misdiagnosis. Mistreatment. Medical gaslighting. An increasing number of studies show the profound impacts racism has on communities of color—particularly Black Americans. But these disparities in health care and wellbeing are not the result of a handful of uninformed or malicious doctors: racism in…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9798889842354 |
|---|---|
| Author: | Vanessa Grubbs |
| Publisher: | North Atlantic Books,U.S. |
| Imprint: | North Atlantic Books,U.S. |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 192 |
| Release Date: | 2 September 2025 |
| Weight: | 369g |
| Dimensions: | 152mm x 229mm |
Critics Review
“Negligent by Design is a major contribution to continuing efforts to acknowledge and rectify medical racism in its many forms, and to ensure that the field of medicine represents the most important principles of the long struggle for equality and justice.”
—Angela Y. Davis
“A searing exposé of how medicine perpetuates harm under the guise of care.”
—UCHÉ BLACKSTOCK, MD, New York Times best-selling author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
“Applying her twenty-five years as a physician and extensive research, Vanessa Grubbs, MD, powerfully reveals how racism is deeply embedded in the very design of American medicine. Both a bold critique and a call to action, Negligent by Design challenges readers—especially in the medical community—to confront long-denied truths and build a more equitable and inclusive future.”
—DOROTHY ROBERTS, author of Fatal Invention and a 2024 MacArthur Fellow
Vanessa Grubbs
Dr. Vanessa Grubbs is an internist, nephrologist, kidney donor, physician-scientist, and author of Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers: A Kidney Doctor’s Search for the Perfect Match.
A native of Spring Lake, North Carolina, Dr. Grubbs is a graduate of Duke University, where she earned both her undergraduate and medical degrees. She completed her nephrology fellowship at UCSF and subsequently joined their faculty. While actively engaged in clinical practice and research, she emerged as a prominent figure in nephrology, palliative care, and the study of racial disparities.
Dr. Grubbs departed UCSF in 2019 but continues to contribute to medical literature through publications and academic presentations. Currently, she serves as a part-time primary care physician and hosts the YouTube channel “Real Kidney Talk with The People’s Nephrologist.” In 2022, she founded Black Doc Village, a non-profit organization committed to advocating for Black medical trainees and physicians.
She resides in Oakland, California, with her husband, Robert Phillips, the recipient of her kidney.
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