Study Shows Bystanders More Likely To Ignore Black People Who Need Medical Attention

The study revealed that there are no Good Samaritans for Black and poor people with medical emergencies.

A recently concluded study from the American Journal of Public Health reveals bystanders are reluctant to help Black people in need of medical attention, the Business Insider reports.

Using data from 22,487 patients from the 2011 National Emergency Medical Services Information System, the researchers examined how frequently bystanders assisted people with medical emergencies and how the patients’ race and location played a role.

The study found that Blacks were 58 percent less likely to receive aid than their white counterparts. The report also revealed that in addition to race, economic conditions in the location where the medical emergency is required also played a significant role in the manner, in which onlookers respond. Patients in the poorest counties are shown little or no compassion by bystanders in times of need.

The implications of the study’s findings were put into perspective in Chicago, when a black man, Marques Gaines, was robbed, beaten and run over by a taxi, while over a dozen onlookers watched without even attempting to help him. The 32-year-old died four hours later from injuries he sustained in the street.

According to the Business Insider, other studies have revealed that Blacks suffering from a heart attack are less likely to receive CPR from a bystander than whites.

A 2013 study from the Centers for Disease Control and another released by Portland State University and the University of Arizona in 2014 suggests that Black men are twice as likely to be killed while crossing the street, because white drivers are less likely to stop for Black pedestrians crossing the street.

Such implicit bias involved in the split-second decision-making of drivers, and the lack of compassion for Black people, in a society where Black life is belittled, is evidence that racism is unfortunately a potent murder weapon.

As much as we protest against state-sanctioned brutality and the murder of black people at the hands of police officers, we must also not forget that for Black Lives to really Matter the heartless treatment received by Gaines should not be condoned anywhere in America.

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