Race & Health
Knoxville’s Black Community Endured Deeply Rooted Racism. Now There Is Medical Debt.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — When Dr. H.M. Green opened his new medical office building on East Vine Avenue in 1922, Black residents of this city on the Tennessee River could be seen only in the basement of Knoxville General Hospital. They were barred from the city’s other three medical centers. Green, one of America’s leading Black […]
‘Separate and Unequal’: Critics Say Newsom’s Pricey Medicaid Reforms Leave Most Patients Behind
LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t exactly an emergency, but Michael Reed, a security guard who lives in Watts, had back pain and ran out of his blood pressure medication. Unsure where else to turn, he went to his local emergency room for a refill. Around the same time, James Woodard, a homeless man, appeared for […]
Reporter Follows Up on ‘Cancer Moonshot’ Progress and the Bias in Digital Health Records
KHN correspondent Darius Tahir discussed the latest developments related to the federal “Cancer Moonshot” initiative on Houston Public Media’s “Town Square With Ernie Manouse” on Oct. 4. Tahir also discussed how bias can be embedded in medical records on America’s Heroes Group’s “Roundtable” on Oct. 1. Click here to hear Tahir on “Town Square With […]
Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Maryanna’s eyes widened as the waitress delivered dessert, a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with hot fudge and ice cream. Sitting in a booth at a Cheddar’s in Little Rock, Maryanna, 16, wasn’t sure of the last time she’d been to a sit-down restaurant. With two children — a daughter she […]
Embedded Bias: How Medical Records Sow Discrimination
[UPDATED on Nov. 14] David Confer, a bicyclist and an audio technician, told his doctor he “used to be Ph.D. level” during a 2019 appointment in Washington, D.C. Confer, then 50, was speaking figuratively: He was experiencing brain fog — a symptom of his liver problems. But did his doctor take him seriously? Now, after […]
Impending Hospital Closure Rattles Atlanta Health Care Landscape and Political Races
ATLANTA — Like many neighborhoods in cities across the country, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward is changing. Condo buildings and modern minimalist homes punctuate city blocks of low-income housing. Many longtime residents of the historic neighborhood where Martin Luther King Jr. was born have been priced out and pushed to other parts of town. Atlanta Medical […]
‘American Diagnosis’: ‘We Need to Be at the Table’: Native-Led Medical Research Aims to Rebuild Trust
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Episode 10: “Stewardship Over Biodata Rebuilds Trust” Mending broken trust may be a first step for investigators who want to increase the participation of Native people in medical research. “There’s such a history of extractive research in Indigenous […]
Skin Cancer Is a Risk No Matter the Skin Tone. But It May Be Overlooked in People With Dark Skin.
Brykyta Shelton found herself standing in a checkout line of a big-box retailer, uncomfortably aware as a woman ahead of her stared at her sandaled feet. Shelton had been taking medication for months for what her doctor said was toenail fungus, but one nail still looked gross. After Shelton completed her purchase, the woman pulled […]
‘American Diagnosis’: Two Indigenous Students Share Their Path to Medicine
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Episode 9: “Two Paths, Two Future Physicians” In 1890, Dr. Charles Eastman became one of the first Native people to graduate from medical school in the United States. Today, one of his descendants, Victor Lopez-Carmen, is a third-year […]
‘An Arm and a Leg’: One ER Doctor Grapples With the Inequities of American Health Care
Can’t see the audio player? Click here to listen. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Dr. Thomas Fisher, an emergency room physician at a hospital on Chicago’s South Side, has written “The Emergency,” an up-close chronicle of the covid-19 pandemic’s first year. It also tells the story of his journey as a doctor: how his upbringing […]