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Friday, July 20, 2007

duh!

it's not like we needed a study to tell us blacks received inferior treatment (in this case MEDICAL) than whites. it's obvious. the issue shouldn't be that they DO get inferior treatment, it should be HOW CAN WE REPAIR THIS INJUSTICE?

Tests of ER trainees find signs of race bias in care
Study seeks root of known disparityz


By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff
Deeply imbedded attitudes about race influence the way doctors care for their African- American patients, according to a Harvard study that for the first time details how unconscious bias contributes to inferior care.
Researchers have known for years that African-Americans in the midst of a heart attack are far less likely than white patients to receive potentially life-saving treatments such as clot-busting drugs, a dramatic illustration of America's persistent healthcare disparities. But the reasons behind such stark gaps in care for heart disease, as well as cancer and other serious illnesses, have remained murky, with blame fixed on doctors, hospitals, and insurance plans.
In the new study, trainee doctors in Boston and Atlanta took a 20-minute computer survey designed to detect overt and implicit prejudice. They were also presented with the hypothetical case of a 50-year-old man stricken with sharp chest pain; in some scenarios the man was white, while in others he was black.
"We found that as doctors' unconscious biases against blacks increased, their likelihood of giving [clot-busting] treatment decreased," ............

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