Are Physicians Responsible for Minority Health Disparities? (Doctor-Patient Relations)

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SAN DIEGO--There is a growing recognition that some of the disparity in health and mortality among racial/ethnic groups in this country is due to physician-patient relations, Dr. Denise V Rodgers said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

"Until [physicians] break down some of our belief system barriers, we are going to continue to see these disparities," said Dr. Rodgers, the associate dean for community health at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey.

"Unequal Treatment," issued this year by the Institute of Medicine, implies that "one major contributor to the disparity that we see has to do with the kind of treatment …