Black Americans Could Be Getting Poor Care

Some HIV-positive African-Americans could be receiving less than adequate care from their physicians'particularly if their doctor is white, according to a study in the November issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine. Black patients treated by white doctors tended to receive protease inhibitors several months later than whites or African-American patients treated by black physicians. On average, white patients who had white doctors were prescribed protease inhibitors 277 days after they received Food and Drug Administration approval, compared to 439 days for African-American patients. For black patients of African-American providers, however, no delay was seen. Researcher William King of the University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters Health that black HIV patients need to 'arm themselves with the information and educate themselves about their health care so they are able to work with physicians in partnership regarding their health care.'