Opioid use stigma may underlie clinician biases towards patients with sickle cell disease

In season 1, episode 2 of the popular show "The Pitt," a Black woman with sickle cell disease arrives at the emergency department in acute pain, only to be initially dismissed as drug-seeking. "Unfortunately, this contemporary media portrayal is all too relevant," said Austin Wesevich, MD, MPH, MS, a hematologist and health services researcher at the University of Chicago Medicine. "Nationwide, patients with sickle cell disease are not receiving the same quality of care that other patients experience."