This was an episode when I rotated through the ER. An African American woman was brought to ER with unconscious state. She could be overdose of drugs or alcohol. Therefore, we decided to observe her for a while because her vital signs were stable.
She regained her consciousness in an hour or so and began to speak. An African American male resident was taking care of her then. The patient said, "I wanted to be seen by a white doctor. I don't want you." Since there were a lot of white doctors around, the African American resident brought one of them to her without any disgust. He said to her sarcastically after all, "Okay, he is what you want."
The "white doctor" spoke to her with some embarrassment, " I look white, but I'm Jewish." The patient replied satisfactorily, "Jewish or Italian, I don't care. You are a white doctor." Several residents overheard the conversation and gave a wry smile.

I asked the African American resident about this incident later on. He said that quite a few African American female patients asked to be seen by a male Caucasian resident. He didn't care so much because it was patient's preference, but he said he was not so comfortable with it to tell the truth.