Evidence about the pernicious influence of racism on medical care continues to grow. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that higher rates of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial women report feeling mistreated during maternity care compared to white women. Days later, scientists published a paper showing that incorrect blood oxygen readings from pulse oximeters—which often don’t work as well for darker-skinned people—led to delays in COVID treatment for Black and Hispanic patients.
In recent years, calls have intensified for the medical field to stop using race in this way. Opponents argue that race is socially constructed, with no biological basis. They point out that race isn’t the cause of any medical condition. And they say that it can lead to worse care for people from minoritized backgrounds. Their contentions have gained steam in recent years. In 2021, a task force established by the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology recommended that race be removed as a variable from an equation that helps to diagnose kidney disease.
However, in a new paper, economists are saying not so fast.
“Things have gone in a bad way,” said Dr. Charles F. Manski, a board of trustees professor at Northwestern University and the research’s lead author. “It’s having a day-to-day impact on the quality of healthcare.”
Manski and his co-authors, Dr. John Mullahy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Atheendar S. Venkataramani, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, don’t disagree that race is a made-up category and that race doesn’t cause any disease. But they argue that it doesn’t matter. Although race is a touchy subject, it is still useful information that can improve treatment.
“It doesn’t matter whether race is a social construct,” said Manski. “What should matter is whether [it] has predictive power.”
