Six Meat Buffet » Blog Archive » Some Days It Just Pays To Be White

Some Days It Just Pays To Be White

January 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 am by Preston Taylor Holmes

Physical pain abounds – Minorities hardest hit.

I know, it sounds like a joke, but not when al-Reuters is on the case.

CHICAGO, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Black and Hispanic patients in pain are less likely than whites to get powerful painkillers from U.S. hospital emergency departments, but the reasons may go beyond sheer racial bias, researchers said on Tuesday.

In a look at 375,000 emergency room visits over 13 years, a study found 31 percent of whites in pain received opioid drugs — a broad class of narcotic painkillers dispensed only by prescription — compared to 23 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Hispanics.

My bet would be that blacks and Hispanics know where to get stronger stuff on the streets.

“There is no evidence that nonwhites have less severe or different types of pain when they arrive in the emergency department,” Pletcher said. “We think our data indicate that opioids are being underprescribed to minority emergency department patients, especially black and Hispanic patients.”

A factor may be that white patients are more likely to expect and demand relief from pain and better convey their symptoms in comparison to minority patients, the report said.

Now, the ERs that I’ve visited have been well-versed in both Espanol and Ebonics, so I don’t believe this to be the case. I think it’s just that Honkies are better at threatening credible-sounding lawsuits if they don’t get their meds.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 am and is filed under Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to “Some Days It Just Pays To Be White”

Nigel Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’m going to go out on a limb and also suggest that perhaps gringos are a little more likely to have health insurance that might pay for prescription pain meds than an illegal alien who just walked in.

I know that is a racist and intolerant view…but I’m just sayin’…
Gordon Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Who digs deep looking for stories like this?

Next up, whites more likely to get away with 15 items in a 10 item or less checkout line.
Spanky Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I may be wrong here can’t find the stats but I believe that white folks also misuse these types of drugs more often. Maybe the whites are begging for these drugs for misuse or to sale ummmm
Cranky Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Interesting thought. But, speaking as a white guy, I’m visiting my local biker bar for Meth.
Brian Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I guess it depends on why people go to the emergency room in the first place.

What’s the old canard? We need to give everybody free health insurance so they won’t clog our emergency rooms?

People who might not have health insurance might be more apt to show up to the emergency room. Ergo, if you show up to an emergency room instead of, say your General Practitioner, then why would they give you opiates for a cold?

It’s apples and oranges. Looking only at emergency room visits by race without looking at the reason for the visit in the first place is just junk/armchair science/sociology.
exador Says:
January 5th, 2008 at 9:03 am
What the study doesn’t break down is the location of the hospitals. Much like the “driving while black” nonsense.
The demographic fact is that more blacks and latinos are in higher crime areas. In other words, maybe the ER is a little stingier with the meds in the inner city, whereas your ER in the, shall we say, nicer neighborhoods, doesn’t have the same number of crackheads stumbling in, looking for a fix.
captainfish Says:
January 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Or, could it be there are actually no facts in this made up story.

They have done it before.