Viewpoints: ER Equality Desperately Needed; Your Doctor Is Probably Judging You
Editorial writers tackle these public health issues.
Los Angeles Times:
ER Patients Are Still Being Hurt By Racial And Gender Biases
If you’re in pain and have to go to the emergency room, it’s good to be a white man. A new study finds that women who go to the ER for treatment of pain are less likely to get the needed pain medication, regardless of their age or ethnicity or even the sex of the medical professional — female doctors and nurses were as unlikely to provide the relief as male ones. And nurses are less likely to record how much pain a woman is experiencing. (10/31)
Stat:
Doctors Can Be Awfully Judgmental About Patients’ Beliefs
If you are a doctor, the odds are that your patients think or do things you don’t agree with. Nearly half of Americans believe at least one health-related conspiracy theory, people routinely lie to their doctors about how much they drink, and many act on health information they find on social media without checking with their doctor first. In fact, most adults report hiding information from their doctors. (Samantha Kleinberg, 11/1)
Stat:
Precision Medicine Requires Precision Diagnostics
It’s been 13 years since the term “precision medicine” was coined, and its promise — the ability to treat the right patient with the right medicine in the right dose at the right time — remains as compelling as ever. But we haven’t yet fulfilled this promise. Why? (Amit Agrawal, 11/1)
The Washington Post:
Electing To Suffer
Before I got diagnosed with cancer, I understood it in a couple of simplistic ways. There was a good stage of basic-bitch cancer, which is when your body grows a pebbly glob and pretty much keeps on keeping on. And there was a bad stage, which is when your body gradually stops being your body and becomes a pebbly glob factory. (Rachel Manteuffel, 10/30)
