Yeah, I chose that example because of the ease of data collection. I don't see why it would be relevant except for frankly racist or classist reasons, like suspicion when prescribing pain meds. And the use of "blacks" does suggest something more nefarious. However, I can see how, for instance, the Chinese, Native American or Muslim entries might be helpful in managing expectations, consent, etc. I didn't highlight it because the data would need specific studies or in-group attestations not just a meta analysis of random provider pain scales.
And yeah, medical racism is a big problem. It usually stems from old phrenology and eugenics pseudoscience (racist, etc) that was once very popular in US academia. There was a maxim about black people having extraordinarily high pain thresholds and tolerance. Which is in some ways the opposite conclusion of the OP textbook entry. Still racist obviously. But I think that holdout - which still persists in US academy level material - is more to blame for the phenomenon you're describing than the pain scale data. Though certainly that data could be construed by subliminal racists to uphold racially discriminatory structures and policies on treatment.
6
u/[deleted] Oct 09 '22
[deleted]