Fwd: Study Finds Entrenched Racism in Health Care System/pass this on !

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Study Finds Entrenched Racism in Health Care System

By Maggie Fox, Reuters

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (July 19) - Unconscious racism is so entrenched in U.S. medical

system that the only way to eliminate disparities is to change the rules,

according to a new report released on Tuesday.

 

But allowing communities to take control of their own health care helped in many

cases, and also seemed to encourage healthy behavior above and beyond getting

check-ups and taking the right medicine, the report found.

 

" The health care system as a whole provides vastly unequal access and treatment

based on race, language, and ethnicity, " said Will Pittz, an organizer at the

Northwest Federation of Community Organizations in Seattle who was lead author

of the report.

 

" Racism within the health system is literally making people of color sick. "

 

Several studies released this year have supported this claim.

 

In March, studies published in the journal Circulation showed that blacks tend

to get older heart drugs, are less likely to have surgery and got less effective

treatment for heart problems overall than whites.

 

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher found that more than 80,000 black

Americans die every year because of continuing disparities in health care.

 

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine, an independent group, reported that members

of racial and ethnic minorities are given lower quality health care than whites

even when they make as much money and carry the same insurance.

 

In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that

blacks are far more likely than whites to die from strokes, diabetes and other

diseases.

 

" I think in most situations it isn't conscious -- 'I prefer to serve white

people rather than black people' or 'I don't believe this person deserves good

health care, " ' said Rinku Sen, a spokeswoman for the Applied Research Center,

which also helped write the report.

 

HOLDING PROVIDERS ACCOUNTABLE

 

" It's not just that we need policies, but that policies need to be implemented

to address individual behavior. The combination of the lack of enforcement and

unequal funding means that we can't hold health care providers accountable for

discriminatory treatment, " Sen added in an interview.

 

The report highlights some successful attempts to overcome the disparities. St.

Thomas Health Services in New Orleans, Louisiana, is one example.

 

" Located in a predominantly African American neighborhood, St. Thomas offers

patients a full range of primary care services in an environment that is

welcoming and respectful, " the report reads.

 

Tohono O'odham Community Action in Sells, Arizona, an Indian reservation with

the lowest per capita income in the United States, fights the community's 50

percent diabetes rate by encouraging people to eat traditional foods such as

beans and cactus instead of processed foods.

 

" Elders notice younger people dying ahead of us, " tribal elder Danny Lopez is

quoted in the report as saying. " There must be something wrong and part of that

is the way we are living. "

 

Last September, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Health Workforce

found that while blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up more than 25

percent of the U.S. population, they represent only 9 percent of the nation's

nurses, 6 percent of doctors and 5 percent of dentists.

 

 

 

07/19/05 12:04 ET

 

 

 

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