Letters to the Editor

• Standardized care leads to some falling through cracks

  [Read the article: Race and the white coat]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  The goal to standardize care is admirable. However, I've found it leads to "cookie cutter" medicine. Patients who don't fit neat molds are not dealt with well by such a system. My whole family has had experiences like this and they left my dad with a permanent disability because his condition presented atypically and was not caught for 10 years.

  Wouldn't it be better to just train doctors about racial sensitivity, discipline those who won't go along, and work to see that doctors have the proper time to make good decisions? Using "peer pressure" among doctors to shut down such behaviors (instead of just looking the other way) would be a lot better than making cookie-cutter templates that a significant minority of patients will not fit well with, with poor treatment outcomes as a result.

  I realize these suggestions are a lot harder, but they would be much more productive.

  Permalink Monday, April 21, 2008 10:22 PM