June 13, 2003

When Doctors Practice Racial Discrimination

To the Editor:

In "The Misuse of Race in Medical Diagnosis" (The Review, May 9), Richard S. Garcia makes two points that I think need clarification.

First, he talks about race only as a biological construct -- that is, something that can be known only through some genetic test, if at all. Under that limited view of race, his points are certainly correct. If race is a biological construct, then merely looking at someone to decide his or her race is not only inappropriate