Race, Inequality and the Health of America

Catalog description

Though the United States has the most advanced medical technology in the world – and spends more on health care than anywhere else – we lag behind all other wealthy nations in key measures of health that serve as a proxy for our overall well-being. It starts at birth and ends with death. The United States has the highest rate of infant mortality and the lowest life expectancy in comparison with other wealthy countries. We are the only rich nation where the number of women who die or almost die in childbirth is increasing. These poor health outcomes are often presented as a mystery, yet their root causes are hiding in plain sight. This course will discuss forces in the American health-care system and in American society that cause Black people to “live sicker and die quicker” compared with their white counterparts. Issues covered include how medical texts and instruments still carry fallacious slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies; patterns of worse medical treatment and outcomes for Black patients, environmental racism, and neglect from all levels of government; and the impact of the daily scourge of racism on aging of Black people prematurely. Students will consider the role of the physician and other health-care providers in addressing these issues.