Oct. 14, 2006
Contact: Shawn Robinson
srobinson@udayton.edu
(937) 229-3391

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1NEAR EXTINCTION OF BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD HOSPITALS PART OF CYCLE OF POOR BLACK HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE, SAYS HEALTH AND RACE LAW EXPERT IN NEW BOOK

DAYTON, Ohio — Two generations of blacks have seen the number of their neighborhood hospitals decrease by nearly 90 percent, and 90,000 fewer blacks would die each year if Blacks had the same death rate as whites, according to Dying While Black, a book by a University of Dayton health care and race law expert due out in October.

“Unhealthy people living in unhealthy situations — not having suitable access to a hospital or other health care or facing discrimination and racism — perpetuates poor health from generation to generation,” Vernellia Randall said. “If experts believe child abuse is generational, why can’t we believe it for health and health care?”

Randall, one of two Americans invited to discuss health issues with the United Nations’ working group of experts on people of African descent, said African-Americans lag on nearly every health indicator, including life expectancy, death rates, infant mortality, low birth-weight rates and disease rates.

“We have shorter lives. We are quite literally dying from being black,” Randall, a former registered nurse, told the Akron Beacon Journal.

Randall’s recommendations include increasing the number of health care facilities and providers in black neighborhoods, removing dump sites and providing incentives to change institutional behavior as ways to improve minority health. She said institutions need to make changes.

“Educating doctors and other health care workers is not the solution,” said Randall, who is frequently quoted in the national media about health care and race law. “We need to make changes to institutions that intentionally or unintentionally set policies, practices or procedures that have the effect of discriminating against blacks. If certain changes are made, it will not just help blacks but all minorities.”

Because few discrimination suits are brought forth, the health care industry not only do not have any broad-based policies to eliminate racial discrimination, they hardly recognize that discrimination exist,  Randall said. She advocates adopting new civil rights laws to help eliminate health care inequities.

“We allow inequities to continue, because we’re unwilling to do the things we need to do to address them,” Randall told the Akron Beacon Journal. “(Society) wants to address them in an egalitarian way, as to say, ‘See, it’s not about race. It’s about being poor.’ But without focusing on race, the problem never will be fixed.”

Randall will be taking a break from teaching this semester to discuss the problem nationwide.

Stephanie Wildman, director of Santa Clara University’s Center for Social Justice and Public Service, said Dying While Black is “essential reading for understanding how racial bias taints the delivery of health care in the United States. Professor Randall's analysis provides hope for correcting this injustice.”

For more information on Randall’s book and speaking engagements, visit http://wwwdyingwhileblack.org.

For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson at (937) 229-3391.