Discrimination in the ER?

A new study revealed that Emergency Room doctors are prescribing stronger pain-relivers to white patients who complain about pain than minority patients. Linda Simoni-Wastilla of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy speculates that, "doctors' suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics." She then claims that blacks are least likely to abuse prescription drugs than whites according to research that she has conducted. The way a patient reacts to pain plays a role. Dr. Mark Pletcher, co-author of the Univeristy of Califronia, San Francisco study claims that, "Minority patients may be less likely to keep complaining about their pain." The study was conducted over 13 years and will be published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.