Final answer:
True. The trend within health care has led some patients to feel alienated and degraded.
Step-by-step explanation:
True. The trend within health care has indeed led some patients to feel alienated and degraded. This is often attributed to historical episodes of medical exploitation and racism, such as the Tuskegee Experiment, as well as ongoing experiences of discrimination and bias by healthcare providers. These factors contribute to a lack of trust among certain communities, including African Americans, which can lead to a reluctance to seek treatment and ultimately contribute to higher mortality rates.
It is also important to recognize how health inequalities are tied to broader issues of social and resource inequalities. Efforts such as the U.S. government's Healthy People 2020 initiative aim to eliminate disparities, yet the historical vestiges of a two-tiered healthcare system indicative of systemic racism remain. Erving Goffman's notion of stigma applies as well to how certain illnesses are viewed, potentially hindering individuals from seeking or receiving quality care.