Homies and Hospitals

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Black people are so weird.

For some reason, which will no doubt take eons to figure out, blacks are those most likely to check themselves out of the hospital against medical advice:

In an analysis of more than 3 million discharges from U.S. hospitals in 2002, the researchers found that 1.4 percent were made against medical advice. Compared with white patients, African Americans were 35 percent more likely to opt for such a “self-discharge,” the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

In contrast, Hispanic patients were 10 percent less likely than whites to check out against medical advice…

It’s unsurprising that men bolt more often than women and the young more than the old, but why blacks? The discrepancy holds true even when the researchers controlled for income (a brother can’t lose his job) and Medicare/Medicaid receipt. Given that past studies (and common sense) indicate that going AWOL from the hospital is bad for your health, this is the kind of issue blacks should tackle as opposed to this one.

Fact:

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