In another case of racial discrimination, a study revealed that black patients with lung cancer were less likely than white patients to receive recommended chemotherapy and surgery.

The study said that disparity in lung cancer treatments were as large in 2002 as they were back in the early 1990s, despite efforts to decrease those inequalities in treatment.

In the course of study, Dale Hardy, of the University of Texas School of Public Health, and his colleagues collected data on 83,101 people 65 and older with non-small cell lung cancer which has been the most common form of lung cancer  between the years 1991 and 2002.

The study revealed that blacks with early-stage cancer had 37 percent less chances to receive recommended surgery and 42 percent less chances to receive recommended chemotherapy, as compared to the whites.

"In addition, blacks are most often seen at county hospitals, which often provide lower quality medical therapy," Hardy's group noted.

"In conclusion, there were substantial disparities in receiving recommended treatments between blacks and whites, and these disparities have been relatively stable during the past 12 years," the study authors wrote.