NEW: The Color of Health Care: Diagnosing Bias in Doctors

A recent study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and other Harvard University affiliates reveals evidence that quality of health care is linked to deeply-rooted internalized racial stereotyping. The study showed that doctors with subconscious racial biases were less likely to prescribe aggressive heart attack treatment for black patients than for white patients.

Researchers used the Implicit Association Test to determine doctors’ biases. Doctors were then given a case study of a man who entered the emergency room with severe chest pain. The patient was described as “white” to some doctors and as “black” to others. Doctors who were told that the patient was white were more likely to believe that he was having a heart attack than doctors who were told that the patient was black.


Click here to download the published study.

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