(RNS) — Trust in secular U.S. health care institutions has been in free fall. In 2022, Gallup found that only 38% had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in our medical system. Back in 1968, that number was 73%. The crisis is particularly acute among young people, those with less education and people of color. The mistrust deepens significantly when it comes to government health agencies, whether federal, state or local. Medical communities have had a particularly bad track record when it comes to disability. Physicians consistently rate the quality of life of their disabled patients lower than those patients do themselves. This gap sometimes results in certain disabled patients being denied end-of-life care given to healthier patients.  People of color, especially disabled Black Americans, have expressed a particular distrust of the care they are given. The infamous 2020 case of Michael Hickson, a Black man who had been paralyzed after a brain injury, gave us a window into why. A recording taken by Hickson’s wife revealed a white doctor insisting that …