[Murray C.]

To doctors: Assuming all doctors practice on a wide variety of people from different ethnic origins, do you find that certain races get certain/particular illnesses? For example, do you find that white people tend to get the stomach flu more easily than black people? Or, do you find that one particular race has a higher rate of cancer than any other race combined? Also, do you find that any particular race seems to be healthier above all the rest? And what about hypochondriacs? Are there any races that are more likely to 'think' they are sick?

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Name : Murray C., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 31, City : Halifax, Nova Scotia, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Draftsman, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class, 

[Lisa]

I'm not a doctor, but just as an observation I bet that more well-to-do white people are bigger hypochondriacs. I think when people don't have to battle every day for the basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter, security, safety) as well as their civil rights, they have more time to make/focus on other problems. It's a luxury to consider your happiness and well-being all the time. Whether this luxury is necessary or admirable, who's to say? But being white and rich a wimp does make. And I know. I was raised with these people. I am one of them. As comedian George Carlin said: 'Anorexia? White rich girls who don't eat? Ah, let 'em die. I've got bigger problems.'

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Name : Lisa, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Lucy22440]

I am not a doctor either, but I have also noticed that wealthier people tend to have more ailments than poorer people. I think this has a lot to do with medical costs and quality of insurance. People who do not have money or insurance simply don't go to the doctor unless its an emergency. Its too expensive for them. Even those with insurance may be reluctant to go to see a doctor because the insurance may not cover all of the costs and they cannot afford the out-of-pocket expense. As a result people ignore their symptoms or use home remedies.

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Name : Lucy22440, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 25, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[susan27496]

Yes!!! An answer to my question! See below, dated 12/14/99. Question: Why do whites take things in life so hard? I've worked in several medical clinics. Most of them had African-American populations. Now I'm working in a clinic with a majority white population. The negative emotional responses I've seen whites give to illness is of a higher degree than the black populations I've worked with. Nasty things happen to people all the time. Why the problems with coping? POSTED 12/14/1999 Susan, Boston, MA, United States, 40, Female, Black/African American, Mesg ID 12131999122420

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Name : susan27496, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 40, City : boston, State : MA Country : United States, 

[Mindkandy]

Well, I don't know if you've spent much time really pondering your question in detail, but you have to consider the obvious facts that people are mostly a product of their environment in many ways. It is found that black who live in poorer, less resoureful areas are more likely to suffer from stress and unhealthy-food related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertention (heart disease), obesity, certain forms of cancer, etc etc than blacks who live in more resourceful and affluent communities. So it is not an issue of whether someone is black, therefore they get sick quicker and faster, it is an issue of what types of environments, socio-economically, certain blacks live in. Now in comparison to whites, more whites than blacks live in more affluent areas and communities, although the majority of black population, contrary to popular belief, are middle classed citizens and not on wellfare and poor. So naturally the ailments that come with living in poorer areas are going to be experienced moreso by the people that live in them. If you go to poor black neighborhoods, you don't see many health care facilities and programs built and offered, you see fast food joints on almost every corner, along with liquor stores, thus making the area 'ghettoized' (consisting of mostly one type of ethnic demographic along with being poor and less opportuned). I think more whites need to do more reasearching on things that don't necessarily pertain to them to enlighten their perceptions of blacks in general and what being black in this society means and implies on various complex levels, because I see a lot of questions here that may to me and others initially appear to be silly, and very naive, but I realize that many whites do not think about race until someone really puts it in their path and even then many whites tend to think blacks 'overreact and exaggerate' about certain racial realities. It has not been that long since blacks have been segregated and you have to remember that blacks for almost a century were not allowed to vote, read or be educated, thus having a tremendous and substantial impact on today's black generations and socialized realities, this is why there are more whites who are affluent and successful than blacks and why whites make up more of the nations population (being the majority) than many other ethnic groups. There is a lot to think about, and I hope that you consider that, but good question as it needs to be discussed :)

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Name : Mindkandy, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 22, City : West LA, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : college student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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