Blacks Are Less Likely To Receive Narcotics In ER!

January 2, 2008

OMG, say it ain’t so! A new study appearing in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association finds that Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites! Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites. The race gap finding may reveal some doctors’ suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics, but ironically according to Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland Blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Meanwhile, Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. So sad, thoughts?

Click HERE to read the article!

Filed Under Say What?

9 Responses to “Blacks Are Less Likely To Receive Narcotics In ER!”

Nisha on January 2, 2008 at 7:39 am #

Not saying this in a racial way and i know TV doesnt depict reality real well or anything but on the show Intervention, what race are we most often seeing addicted to oxycodone and morphine??…….. exactly!!! White people. You know what….this article just pissed me off damn those doctors and their racist BS i work with some of these racist MF’s and you can really tell the difference the give between patients
fatblkboy on January 2, 2008 at 8:05 am #

Hmmmmm…I don’t know what I think about this yet. I was hospitalized last year and they offered me morphine several times a day although I didn’t take it. I work in the health care industry. From my perspective, I think it’s more of a health insurance/financial issue. I have definitely witnessed someone’s standard of care be dictated by the type of coverage they have (HMO vs. PPO or Private Insurance vs. Public Aid/Medicare)
Monice on January 2, 2008 at 8:21 am #

I know this is going on because I am a Pharmacy Technician and many times black/latino patients that were admitted into the hospital were not permitted to have c2/c3 drugs (narcotics like codeine, alprazolam). My pharmacy manager would tell me “dont feel their cart with controls, their insurance doens’t cover it”, even if they had something fatal. the fact is, it looks like a racial thing because according to demographics, blacks/latinos lack financial stability…In addition, medical insurance is scarce among these communities. However, this is not fair to anyone. I believe this is a human right!
fatblkboy on January 2, 2008 at 8:40 am #

Monice:

I think you are absolutely correct. That’s what I was trying say but I got sidetracked (because I’m at work now - shhhh….)I’m African American also but I have an excellent insurance plan which is probably why I was offered the morphine. The practice that I work for does not accept Medicaid or Public Aid at all. We only accept Medicare because it’s required. We verify the details of all private plans to see if they meet our “standards” or we refer them to someone else. I feel bad alot of times but it’s my job.
DeeDeeBaby on January 2, 2008 at 9:03 am #

This isn’t anything new. A friend of my parents (who is a doctor) said that while he was in medical school they were taught that black people have a higher tolerance to pain, so we don’t need strong pain medication. They were literally TAUGHT that. I wish I knew what school he went to so that I could list it here. He told my parents this at least 15 years ago. This article doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Tonya on January 2, 2008 at 10:19 am #

Why are they even doing this study? When I had my surgery I needed my pain medication.
SAY WHAT :0 on January 2, 2008 at 11:37 am #

WTF…?? I don’t even know where to start. How many black folk do u know use perscription pills n whatnot to get high, huh??? Just about none. All those intervention shows and the True Life MTV shows, its nuthin but white folk who are addicted to pills, black folk dont need pills WTF we have weed, even though that sounds(n doesn’t make it) any better but come on now. Minorities should should get painrelievers too, thats fucked up. Whoever did this ‘research’ got it all mixed up.
Ione on January 3, 2008 at 7:55 pm #

This is not surprising, as a matter of fact it’s getting worse.
april michelle on February 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm #

my mom had breast cancer, lung cancer and it was starting to spread to other places. she asked her doctor that she was in a lot of pain and could he give her something for it… he told her to take tylenol! my mom died 2 months later. RIP MOM!!! 1952-2007