Wright On The Edge Discusses Racial And Ethnic Health Disparities

Wendy Wright

The overall health of the American population has improved over the past few decades, but African Americans have not shared equally in these improvements. Racial and ethnic stereotyping and bias in medical care in the United States occur across the full spectrum of disease categories and medical and surgical procedures. The pervasive if sometimes unconscious discrimination is part of a health care system that leaves 40 million Americans without health insurance, and guarantees that US minorities live sicker and die younger than whites. Discrimination endangers not only patients, but also the egalitarian commitments and ethics of medicine, and the democratic principles of society as a whole.