The Misuse of Race in Medical Diagnosis

Garcia believes that professors and current textbooks still say that knowing the patient's race helps the doctor make an accurate diagnosis. However, there are examples of incorrect diagnosis caused by doctors who use racial assumptions to arrive at incorrect medical conclusions. He further opi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Pediatrics (Evanston) Vol. 113; no. 5; pp. 1394 - 1395
Main Author:	Garcia, Richard S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elk Grove Village, IL Am Acad Pediatrics 01-05-2004 American Academy of Pediatrics
Subjects:	Biological and medical sciences Case studies Continental Population Groups Diagnosis Diagnostic Errors Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Genetic Predisposition to Disease Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution Humans Medical diagnosis Medical errors Medical History Taking Medical personnel Medical sciences Molecular and cellular biology Pediatrics Physicians Practice Race Race discrimination Social Identification United States United States Medicine Pediatrics Genetics Diagnosis Race
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Summary:	Garcia believes that professors and current textbooks still say that knowing the patient's race helps the doctor make an accurate diagnosis. However, there are examples of incorrect diagnosis caused by doctors who use racial assumptions to arrive at incorrect medical conclusions. He further opines that if by using a patient's ancestry in medical discourse can narrow the range of possible diagnosis, then at least one must be careful to describe accurately the genetic, ethnic, cultural, or geographical variables involved.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0031-4005 1098-4275
DOI:	10.1542/peds.113.5.1394