How Algorithms Decide Who Gets a Kidney
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Clinical algorithms are meant to guide doctors toward better care – but do they?
Algorithms are designed to make medicine more accurate. But when race is factored in, they can worsen inequality.
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How Algorithms Decide Who Gets a Kidney
Clip: Special | 1m 7sVideo has Closed Captions
Algorithms are designed to make medicine more accurate. But when race is factored in, they can worsen inequality.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(gentle bright music) - [Narrator] For decisions like who should get a kidney transplant, doctors across many medical fields routinely use calculations that combine a patient's medical history with additional data.
These calculations are called clinical algorithms.
- A clinical algorithm is a tool that clinicians would use to really best understand their patient's specific diagnosis or treatment.
(gentle music) - [Narrator] According to the algorithm that Gregory's doctors used, if Gregory had the same test results but was white, he would've immediately qualified for a kidney transplant evaluation.
But why would race be a variable in determining kidney function?
- There should be no reason why the physiological function of someone who's Black would look different than the physiological function of someone who's white.
(gentle music)
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National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.