Race and Ethnicity in Clinical Case Presentations

To the Editor: I agree with the opinions expressed in the Perspective article by Brett and Goodman (Dec. 30 issue) 1 that medical educators should address biases arising from clinical case presentations with respect to race and ethnicity. I would add that educators should also pay attention to the effect that the use of descriptors of a patient’s disability status can have on a presentation. The mention of disability descriptors that are unrelated to presenting symptoms, clinical reasoning, or need for accommodations provides an opportunity for assumptions about the patient’s competence and quality of life, factors that can bias diagnostic and . . .