By drawing on a wide range of material, a picture emerges of extensive abuse, discrimination, and exploitation of women and ethnic minorities at the hands of the American health industry. The numbers of minorities and women in professional schools and among the “elite” strata of the industry remain disproportionately low. As patients, they receive often inferior, insensitive treatment. Overall, there is a remarkable similarity in the situation of women and minorities, a condition which reflects the pervasiveness of racism and sexism in American institutions and ideologies.
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