Race and Health Disparity in America

The deaths of more than 80,000 blacks, Hispanics and other minority Americans each year are attributed to health disparities. These are inconsistencies between whites and blacks, not only in overall health status, but specifically in the quality of medical care received by African Americans. Why are African American patients sicker and more likely to die than white patients? Thomas LaVeist, director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, breaks down the myths behind common explanations for health disparities - such as poverty and lack of access. And Dayna Bowen Matthew, author of "Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care" and law professor at the University of Colorado Law School, argues that unconscious racial bias by doctors is driving unequal treatment – and that such implicit bias can be changed.