Racial injustice in health care.

Abstract

A growing body of compelling and disturbing evidence points to inferior medical care for black Americans, even if they are on an equal economic footing with whites. Differences in access to treatment and the quality of care are at least part of the reason why the rates of death from some diseases are higher among blacks than among whites. In this issue of the Journal, Morrison et al. show that black and Hispanic patients with severe pain are less likely than white patients to be able to obtain commonly prescribed pain medicines, because pharmacies in predominantly nonwhite communities do not…