Researchers: The Road to ‘Bias-Free’ Health Care Still Has Bumps

For those who thought that the racial disparity in healthcare was just limited to the treatment of disease, they should consider the effect of perceived discrimination and bias on minority patients with respect to disease screening and preventive care.  From the American Assn. for Cancer Research:

“We have yet to achieve bias-free health care. This has serious public health implications as we know that higher levels of screening lead to lower levels of mortality. Clinicians need to be aware that they may be sending signals, even unintentionally, that lead minorities to believe they are being discriminated against,” said LaVera M. Crawley, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics.  Exactly what those signals are will need to be determined in future studies, Crawley says, but the relationship between perceived discrimination and failing to get regular screenings is strong.

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