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The Science of Happiness · June 10, 2026 · 25:01

Introducing - Intention to Treat: Money and Misdiagnosis

Sendhil Mullainathan, Ziad Obermeyer
Show Notes

This episode introduces "Intention to Treat: The Race Equation," a new investigative series from the New England Journal of Medicine exploring how race-specific diagnostic tools systematically harm Black patients. The series examines the intersection of algorithmic bias, clinical medicine, and health equity, investigating why medical algorithms that use race as a variable perpetuate diagnostic errors and widen healthcare disparities. Through interviews and case studies, the episode frames misdiagnosis not as individual clinical error but as a systemic problem embedded in how medicine measures, predicts, and treats disease.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Curious

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Algorithmic Bias as Embedded Historical Discrimination
Machine learning algorithms trained on historical healthcare data learn to replicate past discrimination and disparities, encoding them into clinical decisions that affect current patients.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Highlights

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Race-Based Diagnostic Tools Perpetuate Clinical Harm
Medical diagnostic algorithms that explicitly use race as a clinical variable systematically misdiagnose and undertreat Black patients by embedding historical inequities into clinical decision-making.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Editorial

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Misdiagnosis as Systemic, Not Individual Error
Healthcare inequities result not from individual clinician mistakes but from systemic design choices embedded in diagnostic tools, algorithms, and how medicine measures disease.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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The Series: Intention to Treat—The Race Equation
A new investigative series from the New England Journal of Medicine examining how race-specific diagnostic tools harm Black patients and contribute to health inequities.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Misc

✧New NEJM series launching on race-based medicine and algorithmic bias
✧Focus on diagnostic tools that use race as a clinical variable
✧Connects algorithmic bias to concrete patient harm in clinical settings
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