Just another example of the sort of racism minorities experience in their daily lives. I'm a white guy, used to have long hair, and when I was taken to the ER after a semi-serious motorcycle accident, the nurses (all nuns) refused to give me any painkiller, thinking I was just some long-haired hippy looking for free drugs. It's amazing how petty bureaucrats and martinets make up their own rules on the spot.

It is common now for ERs and other medical institutions to withhold painkillers in general these days. The war on drugs has now extended into legitimate medicine and many doctors are hesitant to prescribe or allow anything but NSAIDs or Tylenol (one problematic, the other downright dangerous) for pain no matter the severity. Even proof of cause through X-Rays, MRIs, etc. do not convince doctors that relief from pain is a necessary component of treatment in my experience.

I am a RN and I never hold the pain-killers. If morphine dosn't stop what you report as pain the I will make sure the doc ups it to hydromorphone or meperidine if moderate to severe pain is reported. Pain is what the pt reports it to be. If I suspect a serious opiate addict a small and slow dose of narcan will precipitate a withdrawal crisis aand identify an addict, along with the taletell signs of tracks, mentation, and psycological presentation. Any Dr or nurse not treating pain should be reported and to both the hospital ethics board and talked of openly as the @#$%$ that he or she is.

Another saddening example of America's hostile racial climate. Sickening, really...

This observation may be omitting another more practical but even more insidious reason for this behavior...a medical establishment predisposition to thinking that a member of a minority can't pay for expensive painkillers.

one problematic, the other downright dangerous
FX

If it were an overall fear of prescribing drugs due to the war on drugs, than it wouldn't show up as racially biased. It would be more general. So I don't buy that line of thinking.
The more insidous reason that 'svignog' mentioned is as believable a prejudice as any other.
Just have to say, as something of an aside, how thankful I am for Debra Dickerson. I like many of the bloggers, but so much tends towards of the moment observations of the crap bunch we call politicians. Dickerson taps into the broader social issues that trouble minorities in everyday life. We need the anger, the indignation, the voice of disgust and recrimination. Otherwise it's just a daily dose of 'That politician said that? He had an affair with who?' - little clucks and shaking heads, then moving on, with an air of 'sobeit'. But a fire can be stoked when you stop focusing on daily political gossip and talk about over-arching social ails. Thank you, Ms. Dickerson.

I suspect it is the doctor's fear of the DEA. Subscribing narcotics to a "White Middle Aged man or woman isn't likely to arouse Big Brother's interest. Subscribing to a long hair, tatooed white, or any minority may raise interest as they are more likely to have been or be drug users, possibly putting the Doc under the DEA's eyes. I've seen pharmacists refuse to fill perfectly legal prescriptions because of such fear. Get rid of the stupid laws which have ruined millions of lives, collect taxes on legal sales and we'd have money for highways and schools and maybe even some left over for illegal and immoral wars.

Children, also, are routinely under-medicated for pain.

Somehow, if you are perceived as "three fifths of a person," you are less likely to get good medical care.

So: minorities, the unemployed, the young, the "other" in any context, are less likely to get good care.

Some tips from an ER nurse:

Do not tell the Doctor or nurse what type of medicine you need. ie "I need morphine" or "I need oxycontin".

If you say you need Dilaudid because morphine "doesn't work" you will be treated as a drug addict. Dilaudid is 10 times stronger than morphine and very few people in the public other than drug seekers, know this.

Don't ever say "Man that feels really good!"

If you are an addict, admit it immediatly. Hiding it is absolutely the wrong thing to do because it sends the message that is the only reason your there. Try, "Sir, I have a problem with drugs, I admit, but I really feel that something is wrong with my_____. Could you please help me find out?If it is the only reason your there admit it, and say that you want treatment. If you don't want treatment and just want drugs, leave.