Study: Whites more likely to get narcotics in ER

[Saguaro]

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds.

Even for severe pain, narcotics such as oxycodone were prescribed less frequently for minorities.

Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.

The analysis of more than 150,000 emergency room visits over 13 years found differences in prescribing by race in both urban and rural hospitals, in all U.S. regions and for every type of pain.

"The gaps between whites and nonwhites have not appeared to close at all," said study co-author Dr. Mark Pletcher of the University of California, San Francisco.

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.

The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.

Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors' suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.

The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.

The study's authors said doctors may be less likely to see signs of painkiller abuse in white patients, or they may be undertreating pain in minority patients.

Patient behavior may play a role, Pletcher said. Minority patients "may be less likely to keep complaining about their pain or feel they deserve good pain control," he said.

Stricter protocols for prescribing narcotics may help close the gap.

A New York hospital recently studied its emergency patients and found no racial disparity in narcotics prescribed for broken bones. Montefiore Medical Center aggressively treats pain and is developing protocols for painkillers that dictate initial dosages and times to check with patients to see whether they need more pain medicine, said Dr. David Esses, emergency department associate director at Montefiore.

Such standards may eliminate racial disparities, Esses said.

In the study, opioid narcotics were prescribed in 31 percent of the pain-related visits involving whites, 28 percent for Asians, 24 percent for Hispanics and 23 percent for blacks.

Minorities were slightly more likely than whites to get aspirin, ibuprofen and similar drugs for pain.

In more than 2,000 visits for kidney stones, whites got narcotics 72 percent of the time, Hispanics 68 percent, Asians 67 percent and blacks 56 percent.

The data came from a well-regarded government survey that collects information on emergency room visits for four weeks each year from 500 U.S. hospitals. The new study was funded by federal grants.

"It's time to move past describing disparities and work on narrowing them," said Dr. Thomas L. Fisher, an emergency room doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center who was not involved in the study.

Fisher, who is black, said he is not immune to letting subconscious assumptions inappropriately influence his work as a doctor.

"If anybody argues they have no social biases that sway clinical practice, they have not been thoughtful about the issue or they're not being honest with themselves," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/01/painkillers.race.ap/index.html


Unexcuseable !

[Wabash]

We all know dem folks can get anything they want off da streets of this fine nation! Hell, they are probably higher den kites when they shows up!

[MW]

Interesting. I got a morphine shot in the ER and then my family dr. gave me ultram - which doubles as an opiate withdraw aid . . . I was stoned for 36 hours off one pill!

[Saguaro]

We all know dem folks can get anything they want off da streets of this fine nation! Hell, they are probably higher den kites when they shows up!

You didn't even read the entire article Wabash

"The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study."

[Wabash]

You didn't even read the entire article Wabash

"The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study."

Haaaaaaaaaaa! They don't abuse "prescription" drugs because they get better stuff off the streets.......daily!:rofl
I've seen it........hundreds of times...go visit East Oakland, Ca. walk down 14th street(if you dare)...there are more buys going on there than on Ebay on a daily basiis! Been that way since the 50s and a lot more now. That's only ONE example!

[Wabash]

Many folks on the other forums will back me up...cept they won't have anything to do with TPA...but you know who they are!:mw

[issac the dragon]

I am so relieved they won't come here! Keep up the good works TPAers.

Something they didn't mention is that Dr.'s often won't give drugs to young people. One told my daughter that he wouldn't give her an effective pain killer because she was a teen ager.

Wabash, most drug users are white.

[Wabash]

I am so relieved they won't come here! Keep up the good works TPAers.

Something they didn't mention is that Dr.'s often won't give drugs to young people. One told my daughter that he wouldn't give her an effective pain killer because she was a teen ager.

Wabash, most drug users are white.

Not where I come from issac....maybe in the boonies where you live..:LL

The SF Bay Area has a large contingent of blacks...and most of dem be usin! Know what I means? Whites do it recreationally...blacks do it as a way to go thru life!

[Wabash]

Got some decent ones out there thou...like Cosby, Freeman and Thomas..........and Dr. Williams..:wink

[Kurtz]

We all know dem folks can get anything they want off da streets of this fine nation! Hell, they are probably higher den kites when they shows up!

You didn't even read the entire article Wabash

"The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study."

Don't upset Wabby's stereotypical perceptions,
Sag, you're confusin' him with facts :lol

Many folks on the other forums will back me up...cept they won't have anything to do with TPA...but you know who they are!:mw


Wabby, look up at the top, you're at
TPA, act accordingly, try to keep up. :snicker

[Wabash]

Don't upset Wabby's stereotypical perceptions,
Sag, you're confusin' him with facts :lol




Wabby, look up at the top, you're at
TPA, act accordingly, try to keep up. :snicker

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Lone Laugher]

Well, Wabs, if we didn't have racist MFer's like you, we'd have no negative examples of humankind to avoid. To think that someone with your level of hatred and disdain for an entire segment of our population was at one time AN OFFICER OF THE PEACE makes me want to shit and puke at the same time.

[issac the dragon]

Really Lone Laughter? My step son is a cop and every one of the cops I have met, including SS is exactly like that.

[Lone Laugher]

That's too bad.

[AYFR]

We all know dem folks can get anything they want off da streets of this fine nation! Hell, they are probably higher den kites when they shows up!

Haaaaaaaaaaa! They don't abuse "prescription" drugs because they get better stuff off the streets.......daily!:rofl
I've seen it........hundreds of times...go visit East Oakland, Ca. walk down 14th street(if you dare)...there are more buys going on there than on Ebay on a daily basiis! Been that way since the 50s and a lot more now. That's only ONE example!

Not where I come from issac....maybe in the boonies where you live..:LL

The SF Bay Area has a large contingent of blacks...and most of dem be usin! Know what I means? Whites do it recreationally...blacks do it as a way to go thru life!

What a wrong and racist way of thinking. Wabash you do know that WHITES are more likely to use drugs then black?
The recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the sex and drug habits of Americans is the latest to toss an ugly glare on the naked race-tainted war on drugs. The survey found that whites are much more likely to use drugs than blacks.
http://www.alternet.org/story/55403/

Really Lone Laughter? My step son is a cop and every one of the cops I have met, including SS is exactly like that.

That is sad to here, I have known some very good cops that are not like that.

[Wabash]

Well, Wabs, if we didn't have racist MFer's like you, we'd have no negative examples of humankind to avoid. To think that someone with your level of hatred and disdain for an entire segment of our population was at one time AN OFFICER OF THE PEACE makes me want to shit and puke at the same time.

Disdain yes...hatred NO.......reality yes, La La Land....NO!

Really Lone Laughter? My step son is a cop and every one of the cops I have met, including SS is exactly like that.
You say that as thou it were a bad thing? Cops deal in reality with the scum of the earth everyday they are on the job....unless you have done the job, you don't have a clue...I don't hide behind studies and verbage by others...I've been there!

That's too bad.

Actually LL...it's reality!

What a wrong and racist way of thinking. Wabash you do know that WHITES are more likely to use drugs then black?

http://www.alternet.org/story/55403/



That is sad to here, I have known some very good cops that are not like that.
They can find all they want too Rev....I was 0n the streets and in the jail for many years....in my professional opinion...blacks are more likely to use drugs than whites....now I've been retired for awhile, and the whites may be on the increase...but what I said above is very true from my OWN personal experience!
Racist? Hell NO! Reality..Hell Yes! And I've got arrest reports to prove it. I don't make this stuff up...

So if you dweebs think I'm wrong about this...too bad!

[Wabash]

The title of this thread may be correct, but it's just limited to ER perscriptions! On the streets, it's a different story! So....I repeats myself again...
Haaaaaaaaaaa! They don't abuse "prescription" drugs because they get better stuff off the streets.......daily!

[Lone Laugher]

I think you are wrong.....not about who does or does not use drugs...but about your thinking that is is ok to have disdain for another race....and be a cop. Your judgement is clouded. You claim to "know" what you are talking about and you say that white people use drugs for recreation. What an idiot.

I believe the part about you being "in the jails", though. I have heard that loser cops often get assigned to the correctional facilities.

[Deadshot]

Well I'm a Police Officer and I am not a racist, though I do see the realities of situations.

It's not racial profiling to say the suspect is 6'1, 180lbs and BLACK or WHITE or HISPANIC. It's a description!

And while it pains me to do this, :yuck :eek, I have to defend Wabbi a little here. Obviously white's do more drugs and more whites do drugs then blacks. There's more whites then blacks. But STATISTICALLY blacks do more drugs then whites. Do you understand?

For example if there are 10 whites and 2 of them do drugs; then there are 5 blacks and 2 of them do drugs. The numbers are equal, but STATISTICALLY there are a higher percentage of blacks doing drugs. And since most policy, and therefore police work, is done on statistical analysis, more blacks will be incarcerated for doing drugs then whites.

The system is broken. You know that if you get caught with a couple grams of coke you get a realatively light sentence. Get caught with a couple grams of Crack and they'll throw the book at you. The laws, in this matter, are racist! But until lawmakers change them (and can you imagine a lawmaker trying to change a law to make it less time in jail for doing drugs?) we're stuck with this system.

So if I'm in a poor black neighborhood, I KNOW statistically that there is a high percentage chance of finding drugs then in a poor white neighborhood. Though in this neck of the woods, Midwest, METH is still pretty strong and the statistics are changing.

[Wabash]

I think you are wrong.....not about who does or does not use drugs...but about your thinking that is is ok to have disdain for another race....and be a cop. Your judgement is clouded. You claim to "know" what you are talking about and you say that white people use drugs for recreation. What an idiot.

I believe the part about you being "in the jails", though. I have heard that loser cops often get assigned to the correctional facilities.

Well, you are showing your ignorance now LL!

Many people have disdain for others or groups of others...it's human nature. Many here have total disdain and hatred for George Bush...a person they have never met and don't really know at all! Yet look at what we read here about OUR President!
Don't talk to me about what I should think, unless you have walked in my shoes! None of you!
BTW, many folks work in the jail, both city and county cops, for a variety of reasons...and.......many have the same powers of arrest that any street cop has and all the perks that go with it!
Also, for you with misconceptions......many departments in the last 30 years or so, require their officers to start in the jail...BEFORE going to street duty.
Sacramento SO for one, requires 5 years of jail duty, before any deputy is eligible for the street! Others go to the jail, because they are able to work on the street any longer, because of an injury or age, or their own request.

[Wabash]

Ran out of time...the above should read "not able"

[Wabash]

Thank you Deadshot...you explained it very well! :paclap:paclap


I might point out that I am not racist, and I always treated everyone the same, on the street or in the jail. I show them respect and I got respect in turn.....most of the time.
Sure are a lot of folks here with little experience, that like to jump to conclusions!

[cassandra]

It's not racial profiling to say the suspect is 6'1, 180lbs and BLACK or WHITE or HISPANIC. It's a description!

And while it pains me to do this, :yuck :eek, I have to defend Wabbi a little here. Obviously white's do more drugs and more whites do drugs then blacks. There's more whites then blacks. But STATISTICALLY blacks do more drugs then whites. Do you understand?

Perfect points. People are far too sensitive about profiling.

In the end more white people are probably doing drugs because there are more of them. However I think drug use is not a race thing. All races use and abuse drugs, period. You can try to split hairs and say who does more but in the end all races do.

[Deadshot]

In the end we all just want to feel good. Life can be boring or monotonous, we need that stimulation. For some people it's their careers, others it's sports or their kids or spouses and for some it's drugs.

As you said, cass, it's the way of the world.