Helath Care Disparity Reflection

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Racial and ethnic backgrounds have been a persistent factor in the dispensation of healthcare, stemming from the Civil Rights era. Several momentous pieces of legislation passed in that time, including the judicial Brown vs. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, both of which were intended to integrate society. However, the racial divide was not completely dealt with leading to the common medical disparities exhibited today. Interests in the status of national medical disparities have aided in the formation of significant organizations striving to transform these inconsistencies to benefit everyone. The objective of this essay is first, to convey how the achievement of civil rights has been overlooked in the medical field thus encouraging 20th Century segregation; second, to provide latent reform options that have potential successes and failures and third, to conclude with a personal reflection of medical disparity. In the 1950s to 1960s, the end of segregation was an intense topic of the United States, which not only publically demoralized minorities but severely weakened their ability to provide and obtain suitable medical necessities. In order to improve these conditions, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act was imposed prohibiting federal support of any business that engaged in discrimination. Although hospitals and other public facilities followed this specification, the majority of the healthcare system failed to comply with Title VI allowing physicians explicitly to be exempt from penalties for substandard treatment of patients (Smith Ph.D, 2005). Over forty years later, thorough research attests when access and socioeconomic factors are resolved a patient’s race and/or ethnicity nonetheless pro... ... middle of paper ... ...es. Retrieved March 16, 2011, from American Medical Association: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/433/cehcd-goals-principles-strategies.pdf Commission to End Health Care Disparities. (2009). The Commision to End Health Care Disparities Five Year Summary. Retrieved March 16, 2011, from American Medical Association: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/433/cehcd-five-year-summary.pdf Kaiser Family Foundation. (2002). Why the Difference? Retrieved March 15, 2011, from Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/whythedifference/evidence.htm Smith Ph.D, D. B. (2005, August 2). Eliminating Disparities in Treatment and the Struggle to End Segregation. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from The Commonwealth Fund: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2005/Aug/Eliminating-Disparities-in-Treatment-and-the-Struggle-to-End-Segregation.aspx

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