ABSTRACT
Medical-induced trauma is a set of psychological and physiological responses of humans to pain, injury, serious illness, medical procedures, and invasive or frightening treatment experiences. This definition seems to encapsulate the American Black experience along healthcare lines. Like other Americanized norms, AI reflects the real world, which means algorithms can unintentionally perpetuate existing inequality—even relating to something as fundamental as the healthcare system. The algorithm’s developers and data scientists used previous patients’ healthcare spending as the primary predictor variable to compute who should qualify for this extra care. This variable served as the proxy for determining medical needs. The AI algorithm equated healthcare spending with health. It had a disturbing result: It routinely let healthier white patients into the programs ahead of Black patients who were sicker and needed the services more. Black patients are accustomed to either experiencing or expecting to receive lower-quality healthcare.
