Story highlights Oregon physician Esther Choo shared her experience in a viral Twitter thread

She says many doctors consider dealing with prejudice as a 'routine part of our jobs'

(CNN) Dr. Esther Choo is an Asian-American emergency room physician who has practiced medicine for more than a decade. Yet, she says, a few times a year, a patient will refuse to let her treat them. Solely because of her race.

Choo, who works in Oregon, first shared her experience of dealing with racist patients who shun her care in a viral Twitter thread last Sunday.

1/ We've got a lot of white nationalists in Oregon. So a few times a year, a patient in the ER refuses treatment from me because of my race. — Esther Choo (@choo_ek) August 13, 2017

"The conversation usually goes like this. Me: 'I understand your viewpoint. I trained at elite institutions & have been practicing for 15 years. You are welcome to refuse care under my hands, but I feel confident that I am the most qualified to care for you. Especially since the alternative is an intern.' And they invariably pick the intern, as long as they are white. Or they leave," she wrote in successive tweets.

"I used to cycle through disbelief, shame, anger. Now I just show compassion and move on," she added.

Choo's tweets, in which she noted that there were "a lot of white nationalists in Oregon," came a day after a counterprotester was killed following a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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