A Medical Textbook Is Being Called Out for Racial Bias

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A nursing textbook has come under fire for its section on “Diversity and Culture” when it comes to patients experiencing pain.

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The textbook (published in 2015, no less) broke down different minority groups and explained what medical professionals should be aware of when treating them.

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The book purports that “Blacks often report higher pain intensity than other cultures,” and that they “believe suffering and pain are inevitable.” It also writes that Asian patients may not accept pain medication because they are “stoic.”

In addition to the sweeping generalizations about large groups of people, the book doesn’t seem to address the fact that race and ethnicity are different things, as one Twitter user pointed out.

“So what if you’re black and Jewish?” Twitter user Beck Frydenborg wrote. “Or white passing Hispanic? Like this is just impressively stupid on top of the racism, etc.”

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A spokesman for Pearson (the company that published the book) says, “While differences in cultural attitudes towards pain are an important topic in medical programs, the table from this nursing text did not present the information in an appropriate manner.”

“We apologize for the offense this has caused and we have removed the material in question.

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“This material does not reflect our values as a company and how we want to serve students.”

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