There is an immense amount of whining that the medical field is "biased" because it regards patient complaints differently based on race and sex. While this is true, it's because different demographics report the same symptoms differently. Men underreport almost everything. Faint and wake up on the floor? They'll insist they're fine and dont need to go to the hospital (which is accurate, they dont). Little Timmy has a slightly worse than routine illness? A woman will waste the emergency room's time because "he could diiiie"(he wont, get out). Black person claims they're dying? Stop taking so many illicit drugs George, you'll be fine if you knock off the hysterics. Additionally, pain meds are most commonly requested to treat obesity related conditions. They should *neither* be prescribed not administered under such circumstances. If you fell down a flight of stairs and dislocated your knee, pain meds are appropriate. If you walked down a flight of stairs and your knee hurts, put down the donuts. If you look at obesity rates by race, it becomes obvious why black pain isn't taken seriously - because such an outsized percentage have obvious "do not treat" causes for it that the minority with legitimate conditions are missed in the ocean of lifestyle issues.