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During the recent growth of studies of whiteness, a relatively consistent finding has been that most whites do not name whiteness. Many fail to recognize "white" as a racial category, instead equating "race" with any race except white. These studies have largely been conducted in a general population or with college students. In the study presented here of doctors' and nurses' explanations for racial inequality in medical treatment, we find that these health professionals often explain inequality in terms of white patients' demands for care or in terms of discrimination by whites. In addition, many doctors and nurses cite racial discrimination as a possible explanation for racial inequality in health care. These results differ from other studies of whites' discussion of racial inequality. We suggest that white doctors and nurses explain racial inequality in terms that are influenced by their particular setting. In this paper, we describe these results and discuss their implications for the sociology of race and medical sociology. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is high demand for kidney donors in the United States, and it is widely accepted that living donation is optimal for those needing a kidney. Much research has focused on the potential recipient, but little has been studied about the communication and decision making of living kidney donors. Interviews and surveys assessed the communication and decision-making processes of 43 kidney donor volunteers. Almost all of the participants were not asked, but instead volunteered to donate. The vast majority of donors reported having conversations with the recipient and speaking about their decisions with other individuals in their social networks besides the recipient. Some participants said that they stopped talking to others due to negative feedback. Future research should further examine the communication of donors with non-recipient others and potential methods of training recipients and donors to communicate effectively about the donation process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]