- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
Military rank affects medical care, offering societal insights: study
Human relationships are inherently shaped by power dynamics, yet quantifying their impact has remained a scientific challenge.
Now, a large new study published Thursday in the journal Science reveals that military doctors give more attention to higher-ranked patients, providing concrete evidence about the privileges that come with elevated status, frequently at the expense of the less powerful.
"One of the things we are trying to show is that this is not a military-specific analysis," said co-author Manasvini Singh of Carnegie Mellon University, arguing the findings are just as relevant to civilian life as they are to the rigid chain-of-command structures of the armed forces.
For their research, Singh and co-author Stephen Schwab of the University of Texas at San Antonio examined 1.5 million doctor-patient encounters in the US military health service's records.
Rather than exploring how doctors might respond differently to, say, generals versus privates, they chose a more nuanced approach: comparing how soldiers of equal rank, for example two majors, were treated in emergency departments (EDs) by physicians who either outranked them or were outranked by them.
The "high-power" patients who outranked their doctors received 3.6 percent more effort and resources, as measured by tests, diagnosis and treatment codes, time spent with the physician, and opioids prescribed. High-power patients also had better outcomes, with a 15 percent lower likelihood of hospital admission in the following 30 days.
Further analysis revealed an unwitting spillover effect: low-power patients often received less attention from doctors who had just seen a high-powered patient, possibly due to the extended effort invested in the prior visit.
To ensure their results were generalizable to the population at large, the researchers considered demographic factors like age, race, and sex, which impact outcomes in wider society.
"We found if a patient walks into an ED and is assigned to a white physician who is higher rank than them, the patient is better off being white than black," said Singh.
A Black patient that outranks their white physician receives more effort than if they were lower ranked than their doctor, but still less effort than equivalent white patients. Black physicians on the other hand put in very high effort for high-ranking Black patients.
While the military's ranking system differs from civilian life, Singh argues that other factors, like increased camaraderie and kinship, could mitigate this effect.
The paper's findings even generalize beyond medicine, helping explain why Black students do better under Black teachers or why landlords are more likely to evict vulnerable tenants even when the cash value of missed payments is constant, she said.
In a related commentary, Laura Nimmon of the University of British Columbia said the research raised important questions about whether medical education sufficiently addresses status, authority, and class bias.
"Efforts remain necessary to better understand facets of power, including the failures of education and health care systems to address the myth that physicians are perfectly altruistic and not corrupted by power," she said.
Th.Berger--AMWN