Sadly, it appears that race is an important factor in determining who gets better health care. A new study published in the Archives of Surgery shows that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to receive quality care than whites when they suffer traumatic brain injuries. Although hospitals are supposed to treat everyone the same way based on injury severity, the report says they do not.

The study, which was based on data from 376,000 patients at 700 hospitals, indicates that whites who had insurance were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to survive after being treated for a head wound. In addition, blacks with insurance had a higher mortality rate than insured whites.