I do not believe that an ER doctor would withhold pain meds from a child simply because he is black. That charge would mean that the doctor wants black children to suffer. What a hideous accusation.
Really it is a terrible accusation.
They controlled for a great many variables in this study, but one they seemed not to consider was simple geography within the hospital.
The way it goes once there is a diagnosis made in the ER would be this: either you are going to a room on the surgical unit for now or you are going straight to the OR.
OR patients might not get pain meds because shortly they will be under anesthesia . Patients going to a room on the surgical unit will sometimes get their pain meds when they get there.
The abstract makes it seem as if the black kids never got any pain meds ever, when it is likely that they just didn’t get them while located in the ER. Should it happen sooner? Probably, but circumstances don’t always follow ideal pathways.
Myself, I would medicate a kid before transporting them somewhere so as not to give them more pain when jostling them around on a gurney, but you do have to be careful giving opioids to kids because it can supress the respiratory drive.
If I as ER nurse was sending them to a unit where they were not going to be watched closely I might have a lighter hand with the opioids.
Race would never enter the picture though, and no nurse I have ever worked with would ever withhold pain meds based on race. That’s disgusting.
Mrs. AV