Journal article
Racial Inequalities in the Use of Procedures for Ischemic Heart Disease
JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, v 261(22), pp 3242-3243
09 Jun 1989
PMID: 2716154
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
To the Editor. —We commend the study by Drs Wenneker and Epstein1 entitled "Racial Inequalities in the Use of Procedures for Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease in Massachusetts" in the January 13 issue of JAMA.However, both the authors and the subsequent media coverage obscured the most important point: the most likely reason for these inequalities is that physicians value black lives less than white lives.We are physician-researchers. We recognize that in scientific studies, the cause of a finding is rarely established beyond a shadow of a doubt. We also recognize the need to consider alternative hypotheses, usually in decreasing order of likelihood, that would explain the observed effect.The authors stress the hypothesis that black patients are less likely to accept surgery and other technological interventions when offered. They refer to this as a "cultural difference."This comes dangerously close to blaming the victim. The cultural
Metrics
10 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Racial Inequalities in the Use of Procedures for Ischemic Heart Disease
- Creators
- Michelle D HolmesDavid HodgesJohn Rich
- Publication Details
- JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association, v 261(22), pp 3242-3243
- Publisher
- American Medical Association
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Health Management and Policy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:A1989U836800010
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85047691570
- Other Identifier
- 991014877975504721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health