Hacker News Reader

Comment by knicholes | Hacker News Reader

For healthcare, I think it makes a lot of sense, as diseases affect different genders differently. Also, those with certain sexual orientations are more prone to certain diseases. It's crucial to understand someone's gender, sexual activity, and even race to give them proper healthcare.

View on HN

As a physician, I don't have to be gay in order to understand diseases that affect primarily gay communities, how those diseases spread, or how to treat them. There's a big difference between a group you study and a group you hire. The two groups can certainly overlap, but they don't have to.

They said nothing about hiring.

Yes and no. There is also substantial proven bias in healthcare relating to gender and race.

Unfortunately, I think that's another reason we need to collect those statistics. Because if we can't measure the problem, we'll have a very hard time fixing it.

I'm not sure this counts as a bias in healthcare, but I remember reading a study that looked at a large walk-in clinic that served a diverse population. A patient on any given visit would be seen by whatever doctor was next available.

They found that patients were more likely to follow the doctor's instructions after they left the clinic if the doctor was the same race as the patient.

Diseases affect different genders differently? Or different sexes?

I mean, I guess both, but it's primarily sexes, isn't it?

In a way, yes. The specific meaning of words here is important. Sex likely refers to primary sex characteristics and gender may refer to secondary sex characteristics. For example, breast cancer is not a high risk for men, but it is for trans women.

Oh, my bad. Sorry. I meant to say sexes. For hormone therapy the gender matters! :D

Reply on news.ycombinator.com