Mark Padilla, Nelson Varas-Diaz, Sheilla Rodríguez-Madera, John Vertovec, Joshua Rivera-Custodio, Kariela Rivera-Bustelo, Claudia Mercado-Rios, Armando Matiz-Reyes, Adrian Santiago-Santiago, Yoymar González-Font, Alixida Ramos-Pibernus, Kevin Grove
Puerto Rico (PR) is facing an unprecedented healthcare crisis due to accelerating migration of physicians to the mainland United States (US), leaving residents with diminishing healthcare and excessively long provider wait times. While scholars and journalists have identified economic factors driving physician migration, our study analyzes the effects of spatial stigma within the broader context of coloniality as unexamined dimensions of physician loss. Drawing on 50 semi-structured interviews with physicians throughout PR and the US, we identified how stigmatizing meanings are attached to PR, its people, and its biomedical system, often incorporating colonial notions of the island's presumed backwardness, lagging medical technology, and lack of cutting-edge career opportunities...
April 20, 2024: Medical Anthropology Quarterly