Opinion: The Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision puts lives at risk
Currently, just 5.7% of doctors in the U.S. are Black and 7% are Hispanic. Those numbers will surely worsen now.
The past several months have been grim for health in the U.S. In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the lowest life expectancy in more than 25 years. Another CDC report in March showed that maternal mortality was on the rise. Yet another report in March found that even children are dying at higher rates than ever before. Devastatingly, all of these studies showed wide racial and ethnic disparities, with Black, Hispanic, and Native American adults, women, and children dying at higher rates than white Americans.
Despite decades of research and advocacy, along with millions of dollars committed to eliminate health disparities, generations of Black and brown patients continue to be mistreated and die from the effects of racism in the U.S. This has continued even amid the recent racial reckoning that sounded the alarm for racism as a public health issue. Time after time, studies have shown that class is not protective. Social status is not protective. And in the experience of our fellow physicians, even being a doctor cannot save you from racism in medicine.
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