Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Health Disparities in Latinos
Professor Stern's lecture yesterday was very eye-opening for me. What truly surprised me where the statistics that she shared with us delineating the disparities that Latinos face when it comes to health care. It is obvious that the health care system in the United States is terrible and like Professor Stern said, "in crisis", but Latinos are one of the most under-served group of people in the system. The fact that they are Latinos sometimes accounts for their diagnosis and their treatment, if they are even able to receive that. Many Latinos are afraid to even seek health care because of fear of deportation. What kind of health care system is that?! One that makes immigrants (who most of the time need more urgent care than anyone else) afraid of getting help. That is ridiculous. And if they choose to get help, their race status furthermore marginalizes them when it comes to treatment and diagnosis. One statistic that really surprised me was that 55% of Latina/os who arrive to emergency rooms with broken bones do not receive pain medication opposed to 26% of whites. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!! How can health care providers refuse to give someone medication simply because they look different?! The same statistics apply when it comes to postoperative treatment, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS treatment (Lecture 12/1/08). I think it is IMPERATIVE for the United States to come up with a completely new health care plan that has the health of EVERYONE in mind, not just middle-class whites. If anything, it is the undocumented immigrants that should have the most accessible health care possible! They are the ones working the dangerous jobs, getting treated the worse by their employer. And as was seen in the film A Day Without A Mexican, without them the infrastruture of this country would be in shambles because we would be wiping out the base of it. Hopefully President Elect Barack Obama will clean up the mess that has been made of our health care system and put one in place that has the needs of everyone in mind.
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4 comments:
I too was saddened by the statistics read off in class on Monday. I hate the fact that people are diagnosed or not given medicine just because of how they are seen and perceived to be by the caregivers.
As someone said in another post, health is something that absolutely must be placed above everything else. Race, sex, gender, etc. should not be factors affecting the treatment that an individual receives.
It really sucks that we can't have more organizations that provide health care without so many rules. Even if it would cost money, to have a place where undocumented immigrants could go would make things so much better. I know our economy isn't the greatest, but it seems the government could cough up some money to care for a group that makes up so much of our working class.
Veronica Blattner
I completely agree. Who gets the healthcare shouldnt be decided on what the indivdual looks like and their economic status. If someone needs the care, they should get the care. It was interesting to see how these disparties in teh healthcare systema and healthcare distribution among Latinos can be traced back to the immigrant discourse that took place decades ago. I have often wondered where these stereotypes and beliefs about immigrants and latinos had originated from and it was great for someone to put it all in a historical perspective for us to really understand why America values and standards are the way the are.
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