Hospitals that predominantly treat black patients provide poor trauma care

A study in Health Services Research finds hospitals that predominantly treat black patients provide poor care to trauma victims. Study author Dana Mukamel, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the University of California in Irvine, explained the results, discovering that black patients are more likely to die or suffer complications after a trauma admission because they've received lower quality care. Trauma cases may include victims of car crashes, gun-related injuries and falls. "We showed that the disparity in care reflects the fact that blacks are typically treated in different hospitals, ones with lower quality care," she said in an article on News-Medical.net. Surprising results from the data compiled from Pennsylvania hospitals between 2000 and 2009 showed that "both black and white patients treated at hospitals with a high concentration of black trauma patients had a 45 percent higher risk of death and a 73 percent higher risk of death or a major complication when they were compared to patients of both races who were admitted to hospitals that treat low proportions of black patients." Article