Minorities, the Poor and Assisted Suicide

Minorities, the Poor and Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia

Assisted suicide supporters claim it would offer a choice to people who want it. But it would actually victimize minorities and poor people. As disability rights activist Diane Coleman has observed, assisted suicide is primarily promoted by those who are "white, well-off, worried and well."

"Choice" is an appealing word, but inequity in health care is a harsh reality. Consider the following:

* African-American patients with a broken arm or leg are less likely to be given pain medication in emergency rooms than white patients with similar injuries and complaints of pain, according to a new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. [Reuters 12/28/99]

* African-Americans with symptoms of heart trouble are only about half as likely to be referred for the best testing and treatment as are their white counterparts. [Times-Dispatch 3/31/99; NEJM 2/25/99 ]

* African-American cancer patients in nursing homes are severely undertreated for pain - some don't even get aspirin. [NY Times 6/17/98; JAMA 6/17/98]

* Black and poor Medicare patients are more likely than others to be discharged from hospitals in unstable condition. [Contra Costa Times 4/20/94; JAMA 4/20/94]

* African-American women receive less breast cancer screening than their counterparts of other races. [Annals of Internal Medicine 8/1/98]

* Despite equal Medicare coverage, affluent elderly white patients often receive better medical care than African-Americans or poor people of all races. [NEJM 9/12/96]

* Outpatients with cancer who went to clinics that served minority patients were 3 times more likely to be under-medicated for pain than were patients in other settings. [Annals of Internal Medicine 11/1/97]

* African-American academics who study bioethical issues have expressed concern that permitting assisted suicide, along with new limits on health care, presents new opportunities to victimize minorities: "People know they don't get the health care they need while they're living. So what makes them think anything's going to be more sensitive when they're dying." [Detroit Free Press 2/26/97] .

* African-Americans make up 35% of reported AIDS cases, but nearly one-half of all AIDS deaths. [Los Angeles Times 10/10/99]

* Psychiatric clinicians spend less time with African-American patients than with patients of other races. [San Francisco Chronicle 5/30/96]

* African-American women die from treatable illnesses (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, etc.) at twice the rate of white women and African-American men die at a rate almost three times greater than white men.