August 6 was a big day for the next generation of black doctors.
But it was also a reminder that American medicine is infected by a divisive and discriminatory ideology.
It is commendable that Michael Bloomberg donated $600 million to four historically black medical schools.
This money will help cover the exorbitant costs of studying medicine, hopefully for those who need it most financially.
The painful part is that Bloomberg made this gift in service of a lie – a lie that promotes racism and even a renewed segregation in medicine, even if the former mayor is certainly not aware of it.
The lie Bloomberg repeated is as simple as it is comprehensive: “To save more black lives, we need more black doctors.”
The premise underlying this statement is that patients’ health is better when they see doctors of the same race as them – a practice known as “racial concordance” that activists have championed in recent years.
The former mayor of New York City hopes his generous donation will lead to more black doctors entering the profession and more opportunities for black patients to see doctors who look like them.
But the health of patients is not improve and this concept will harm patients of all skin colors in the long term.
As with many lies, there is a grain of truth here.
Black patients tend to have worse health outcomes compared to patients of other races.
The question is why and the answer is complicated.
A variety of cultural, personal and economic factors play a role.
But supporters of “racial concordance” say the answer is much simpler: white doctors are biased against black patients and their racism causes them to treat their patients worse.
That’s the first part of the lie, and to call it an insult is the understatement of the year.
Doctors of all races work hard to treat the patients before them, regardless of their skin color or other characteristics.
There is no evidence that any group of doctors – white or not – is racist toward patients who do not look like them.
Crucially, the psychological “tests” that supposedly prove the opposite have largely been exposed as unscientific.
They exist only to support a political narrative, nothing more.
The second part of the lie is even more disturbing.
Despite claims to the contrary, the ethnic classification of doctors and patients has no influence on the health of the patients.
My colleagues at Do No Harm have analyzed every current systematic review on this topic.
In such reviews, all studies on a topic are considered and then compared with each other to reach an overarching conclusion.
None These reviews show improved results.
Consider the latest from last year.
The study investigated whether doctor-patient communication improves when patients have the same ethnic background.
Of the 106 areas examined, only 12 showed benefits, eight showed harm, and 86 showed no difference.
Other systematic reviews reach similar conclusions regarding the quality of care, frequency of doctor visits, health outcomes, and other important issues.
While activists are pushing forward studies that seem to prove the opposite, these are again unscientific and intended to support a political narrative.
This story is the most dangerous part.
Racial concordance encourages medical schools to lower their standards under the guise of greater diversity, resulting in less qualified physicians providing inferior health care.
In addition, it encourages patients of all Race to avoid doctors who may be best qualified to treat their specific conditions.
Because if you tell patients that their health depends on seeing a doctor of the same race as them, they will increasingly demand it.
Do we really want black patients to refuse to see white doctors?
Do we really want white patients to refuse to see black doctors?
Of course not, but that is exactly where this lie inevitably leads: to renewed segregation in health care.
This may be voluntary and not required by law, but that doesn’t make it any less ugly or harmful.
That’s certainly not what Michael Bloomberg meant when he said that black doctors are essential to saving black lives.
But his words have consequences, and given the enormous attention his $600 million donation has attracted, more Americans are now confronting the misconception that race-based medicine is beneficial.
Bloomberg should have said that his donation was simply about helping more black medical students succeed and that everyone should support this.
Instead, he told a dangerous lie that threatens equal and excellent health care for all – a lie that every person of good will must oppose.
Stanley Goldfarb, MD, former associate dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is chairman of Do No Harm.
