Although Pavlakas said that the belief that Black people’s kidneys functioned differently than other ethnic groups’ kidneys was widespread, several advocates described the inclusion of racial bias into the transplant process as inappropriate.
As ABC News reported, the bias against Black people present in the test was based on an assumption that Black people’s kidneys functioned differently than other groups, something that Martha Pavlakas, the former chair of the kidney committee of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, says was problematic.
“That really was problematic, but it was very widely accepted,” Pavlakis said. “It was what we were taught. It was what we turned around and taught other people.”
Evans told ABC News that her story is an illustration of how far the United States has to go to achieve equality. “Everyone says, you know, we live in this post-racial society here in America, but that’s really not the truth.”
Although Pavlakas said that the belief that Black people’s kidneys functioned differently than other ethnic groups’ kidneys was widespread, several advocates described the inclusion of racial bias into the transplant process as inappropriate.
One of those advocates, Dr. Samira Farouk, a transplant nephrologist and a volunteer at the National Kidney Foundation, told ABC News, “One risk factor that is related to race is the racism,” Farouk said.
“So, thinking about decreased access to care and decreased access to medications, decreased access to optimal diabetes, and high blood pressure control. It really goes back to this initial assumption that race is a biological variable [which isn’t accurate].”
Michelle Josephson, a former president of the American Society of Nephrology, told ABC News that she hopes the transplant system will be more efficient moving forward by removing the racial inequities.
“There’s a lot of issues in medicine and many other parts of our culture that speak to our very challenging history. And I think this is one of them,” Josephson said. “The good news is that we have pulled race out, and we’ve tried to rectify some of the inequities that occurred because of it.”
Source: Black Enterprise
