Additionally, Allen Lebovits, PhD, pain management specialist for 15 years and Co-Director of the New York University Pain Management Center contributes an editorial to this issue asking the question, "Are Some of Us More Equal?" and highlights the suggestion that "pain specialists provide better care and give faster attention to more profitable patients." Lebovits notes how even in end-of-life care situations, services are more available to those who fit the white, upper-class mold.

Gallagher, Green and Tait present this issue as a "call for action" to address and rectify the "unequal burden of pain." The editors believe that this is the first time that an entire issue has devoted to pain care for racial and ethnic minorities. They specifically ask for additional research and policy to address disparities in pain care based upon race and ethnicity. Readers can anticipate further coverage on the disparities and differences in pain medicine, as three more articles are scheduled to publish in future issues this year.

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Contact: Sharon Agsalda
medicalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net
1-781-388-8507
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
31-Jan-2005