Taking a Look at BiDil

The relationship between black patients and doctors has always been strained by the injustice done by doctors in history. One such example stated in the book is the Tuskegee syphilis studies: They recruited hundreds of African-American men with syphilis, then watched them die slow, painful, preventable deaths, even after they realized penicillin could cure them. …

The health of a nation plays an integral part in the overall success and economic well being of a particular country. The United Stated, while pouring more money into the healthcare system than any other country, still stands as a broken system with inadequate care for many citizens. One of the most marginalized groups of people, African American women, continually score alarmingly low on basic measures of overall health. The healthcare discrepancies between white and black women in the United States are alarming, and they reveal flaws in the American health care system as a whole.

This term is generally is generally associated with immigrants. That is there are few studies on acculturation of African Americans because their history is more related to slavery than immigration. However, it has been acculturation of African Americans from their African culture to the new world culture, America. Contrary to what one may think, acculturation is not unidirectional. Thus, the psychologist John W. Berry imagined an acculturation model with four categories: “assimilation (adopts the receiving culture and discards the heritage culture), separation (rejects the receiving culture and retains the heritage culture), integration (adopts the receiving culture and retains the heritage culture), and marginalization (rejects both the heritage and receiving cultures” (Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga, & Szapocznik, 2010). African Americans seem to be in the integration category. Thus, African Americans rely mainly on conventional biomedicine, which has improved their health. However, some of them are still relying on traditional medical remedies because of socioeconomic and health disparities, including poverty, lack of heath insurance,

Racial classification has a possibility to expose an individual to racism and health disparities by influencing access to care, scope and quality of care, and overall health outcomes. In the United States of America, the secret codes of socioeconomic status are deeply spotted by race, causing the racial differences in socioeconomic status and becomes the main element to racial differences in health and health care (Kennedy, 2013). Many studies have indicated that African-Americans distrust medical practices and medical professionals due to a long history tied to the unethical treatment

Based on experience, many African Americans perceived receiving health care as an undignified, demeaning, degrating and humiliating experience. Most even resent clinics because of the medical jargon, the long waits, they feel segragated against. loss of their Often the lack of transportation, poverty, non- compliance with previously prescribed medicines also act as barrier for African Americans seeking health care.

African Americans are the third largest racial or ethnic population, totaling 13.2% of the United States population (CDC, 2015). Giger (2013) states, some health disparities associated with African Americans is due to discriminatory practices and inequalities in social, economic, and educational opportunities, rather than biological factors. Statistics identifies higher health disparities for this population reflected in overall mortality rates compared to other populations. According to the Office of Minority Health (2014), the adult mortality rate is higher in African Americans for heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza, pneumonia, and diabetes, as well as higher rates of infant mortality. For instance, the overall adult mortality rate for African Americans is 860.5 per 100,000 population compared to 731.0 per 100,000 population in Caucasian Americans according to 2012 data (KFF, 2015).

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify the healthcare crisis of African Americans within the broader context of American healthcare reform. In order for one to appreciate the depth of necessity for healthcare reform in the African American community, he or she must have a general understanding of the history of healthcare for African Americans. As stated by the institute of medicine in a study assessing the health and mental health disparities of African Americans, “The sources of these disparities are complex, are rooted in historic and contemporary inequities, and involve many participants at several levels, including health systems, their administrative and bureaucratic processes, utilization managers, healthcare professionals, and

Health disparities among African-Americans is a continuing problem that has been seen over many years. African-Americans have higher poverty rates, have lower rates of insurance coverage, and are more likely to be covered by Medicaid, than the White population (Copeland, 2005). This lack of insurance has led many of these individuals, to not seek treatment for illness, due to problem accessing health care (Kennedy, 2013). This leaves African-Americans with little to no treatment, which causes an increase of medical care that will be needed further on in their life or a sooner than expected death, caused by illness (Copeland, 2005).

Through the perpetuating institutionalized and structure racism, Harriet A. Washington goes to explain the reason why African Americans continues to mistrust the healthcare system and its professionals. The book Medical Apartheid, reveals the dark history of medical experiments on African Americans from colonial times to the present. Washington verifies some of her research by introducing Eugenics,

(2015) notes that “Starting in 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires federal agencies to use a minimum of five race categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.” Each minority group differs in health status and disparities and health promotion. In this paper the writer will focus on a specific minority group, the Black or African Americans, and will

African American men have a lower exposure to tobacco, yet 50% are more likely to get lung cancer compared to white men. There are several diseases that strike or target African Americans, it may be a genetic or a non genetic health issue, but very common to them. Non genetic diseases that are more common within the African Americans are lung diseases, heart diseases, and diabetes. A genetic disorder would be sickle cell anemia. While they affect other races as well, african americans are more likely to get them.

To this end it is common for African-Americans to not mitigate pain and suffering while pursuing any and all life sustaining treatments made available to them (Barrett, 2002). African-Americans will generally even pursue life saving treatments aggressively when they are informed of the treatments futility (Barrett, 2005).

With the huge diversity and changeability of human biology, it is impossible to imagine a reality without some mutations, changes, or issues in the organs and tissues of humans. Thus, it rightly follows that medications and pharmaceuticals have been created in an effort to counteract the various ailments and illnesses that people can experience. However, as time has gone on and these pharmaceuticals have become more and more high-tech, regulated, and trusted, they have also become incredibly commercialized. Worse still, medications have become incredibly expensive and can be unattainable for some people.

Genie's mother abruptly decided to prohibit all of the researchers except for one from having any communication with Genie. All experiments, observations, and studies of her instantly stopped. Most of the experts and specialists who worked with her have not seen her ever since. Updates on Genie and her locations are individual observations or secondary accounts, and all are spread out numerous years apart. ABC News informed America that Genie was retired to California in psychological confinement. Genie is reportedly in her sixth foster family and speechless. Although no one has directed any systematic study of Genie for a long time, psychologists and linguists have continuously discussed Genie's situation and growth long after this period

The Curl Project is a name that may give reference to a standard project, but to be assured it was certainly far from one… The Curl Project was a unique combination of ladies with curls who collectively united to build a momentum against their unruly hair. It was a Facebook group designed for these ladies, myself included, to share suggestions, hair secrets, and daily routines in an effort to spread our knowledge on making our hair more manageable.