Disparities in access to healthcare and the neurosurgeon

Abstract

It is a sad fact of life that every feature distinguishing one human being from another can also be the focus for discriminating against them. The catalog of intolerances is a long one. It opens with major and overlapping entries such as race, economic status, gender, age, education, and mental fragility. Think of these intolerances as malignant weeds whose tendrils become harder to detect the deeper they penetrate the nooks and crannies of everyday life. A particularly egregious example of their influence is on the provision of healthcare, with its predictable effect on mortality and morbidity for those impacted.1