LOCATING AND RESISTING BIAS IN WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE (REGIONAL BIAS)
Regional bias is yet another problem within women's health care. One study in a top medical journal showed that the kind of treatment you receive for breast cancer will differ dramatically depending on where you live. Women in the south and middle portions of the country were found to receive less up-to-date surgical and radiation treatment than did women on the U.S. coasts. I visited Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where older, more radical treatment for breast cancer is still quite common, even among women with early stage disease. Many of the doctors I interviewed blamed patient preference for the preponderance of radical procedures. Patients didn't always agree. One might stop to question how patients form their preferences in the first place. One notably frank physician acknowledged that many doctors in his region give health advice in the form of "well, if it were my mother or daughter, I'd do this—but you're free to do that." Does it sound to you like these women were making free, unbiased choices?
A generic drug is made with the same active ingredients and is available in thesame strength and dosage form as the equivalent brand-name product. Generic drugs produce the same effects in the body as the brand-name drugs, because both contain the identical active ingredients...
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