More Than One Medical Student At UVA Believes Black People Don't Feel Pain

[muriel_volestrangler]

91. The students and residents thought black nerve endings are less sensitive

Hoffman and her team asked white medical students and residents, 222 participants in total, to rate on a scale of zero to 10 the pain levels they would associate with two mock medical cases, a kidney stone and a leg fracture, for both a white and a black patient, and to recommend pain treatments based on the level of pain they thought the patients might be experiencing. They were also asked the extent to which various beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites are true or untrue; for example: that blacks age more slowly than whites; their nerve endings are less sensitive than whites’; their blood coagulates more quickly than whites’; their skin is thicker than whites’ (all false); and several other items, some of them true, such as: Whites are less susceptible to heart disease; whites are less likely to have a stroke than blacks.

The researchers found that half of the sample endorsed at least one of the false beliefs, and those who endorsed these beliefs were more likely to report lower pain ratings for the black vs. white patient, and were less accurate in their treatment recommendations for the black vs. white patient.

- See more at: https://news.virginia.edu/content/study-links-disparities-pain-management-racial-bias#sthash.6sSo7JfT.dpuf

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/03/30/1516047113.abstract

If you're a medical professional, you should be worried at the standard of intelligence of your students and residents, and their tendency to believe in urban myths based on race. Your offence is completely unwarranted. Clean up your profession, because this is malpractice.