Bloomberg Law
Jan. 19, 2022, 9:18 PM

Bias Against Black Patients Revealed in Health Records’ Language

Christopher Brown
Christopher Brown
Staff Correspondent

Black patients were over two times more likely than White patients to be described with negative language in the electronic health-records system at a Chicago-area academic medical center, according to a study released Wednesday.

The finding provides evidence of systemic bias in the health-care system, and suggests that Black patients are often stigmatized in ways that could compromise their care, the study said.

The study analyzed EHR records from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to determine how often patients were described by terms such as aggressive, agitated, non-compliant, or hysterical.

Black patients were 2.54 times more likely to have ...

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