A patient is wheeled to surgery. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
In a press release, Do No Harm summarizes their critique into three core problems with the study: it never actually tests whether Black patients fare better when treated by Black doctors, it downplays findings showing Black patients achieve their best outcomes when treated by non-Black doctors at facilities with more Black physicians, and it relies on speculative explanations for those results while failing to rule out non-racial factors that could account for the outcomes.
"We cannot allow politically motivated activists to push debunked racial theories that have no positive impact on patient care," Jay Greene, Director of Research for Do No Harm, said in the press release.
"Studies like this are designed to codify DEI doctrine to pave the way for re-establishing affirmative action and enshrining race-based hiring. The report ignores the very question it purports to answer: whether black patients actually fare better with black doctors. Our report systematically exposes the study’s shoddy methodology and baseless conclusions. Americans of all races and backgrounds deserve high-quality medical research, not political ideology disguised as science."
Hundreds protest outside a rally held by President Donald Trump at Macomb County Community College in Warren, MI, on April 29, 2025. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)
"Frakes and Gruber consciously produced their study with this use in mind. But as is often the case with advocacy-oriented research, this study is not a reliable basis for making policy decisions. The Frakes and Gruber study appears scientifically rigorous and is authored by economists from high-status universities, but a closer examination of its methods, results, and motivation reveal it to be scientifically unsound and an abuse of academic authority."
Fox News Digital reached out to Frakes and Gruber but did not receive a response.
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/medical-watchdog-challenges-key-study-used-to-justify-dei-health-policies-scientifically-unsound