“The New England Journal of Medicine has argued that “race is biologically meaningless” and that doctors should be taught about “the dangers inherent in practising race-based medicine.” Others disagree. The psychiatrist, Sally Satel, believes that in medicine “stereotyping often works”. In her Washington drug clinic, Satel prescribes different amounts of Prozac to black and white patients because, she says, the two groups seem to meta bolise antidepressants at different rates.” So who is right? (Times of London opinion via walker)
The simple answer is that they both are. The apparent discrepancy arises from our difficulty seeing that racial differences are points on a continuum rather than categorical distinctions. Recalling Gregory Bateson‘s famous comment about information being a difference that makes a difference, it seems clear that there may be greater drug metabolism variations within classes than between them, in fact, and I doubt Sally Satel is basing her dosing decisions for Prozac or anything else as strictly on a racial profiling basis as the example would tend to suggest.
