Medical Racism: A Critical Threat to WOC’s Health  

¹Identifying and highlighting specific instances of women of color’s (WOC’s) mortality rates and pain management disparities humanizes and showcases that this is not a problem of mere alarming statistics but, instead, something that affects real women’s lives, health, and safety. The heartbreaking stories of world-renowned tennis player Serena Williams, CDC epidemiologist Shalon Irving, and doctor Susan Moore can be discussed to demonstrate these effects. 

Moreover, in 2017, Serena Williams experienced severe complications after giving birth to her first child. She developed shortness of breath and recognized that she was showing signs of a pulmonary embolism due to her history of blood clots.²Serena told the doctor and nurses several times that “something wasn’t right” and that she needed a CT scan and blood thinners.³ Her concerns were repeatedly ignored but ultimately followed, which is what saved her life.⁴

Women experience complications during delivery all the time; however, it is the blatant disregard and lack of care for Serena’s health displayed by the medical staff that highlights that Serena’s story was a matter of medical racism. More specifically, this instance shows that as a Black woman/ WOC, no matter your class, as evidenced by Serena’s birth, you can experience having your pain and risk of maternal death disregarded. Acknowledging Serena’s socioeconomic status is crucial since such acknowledgment shows that racial bias is at the root of these issues instead of economic factors.

Similarly, in 2017, Shalon Irving, a Black CDC epidemiologist, complained to her healthcare provider several times about postpartum symptoms such as high blood pressure and swelling.⁵Shalon’s worries were dismissed and minimized by her doctors, resulting in her being repeatedly sent home from the hospital.⁶Tragically, three weeks after giving birth, Shalon died from complications related to preeclampsia, a severe form of high blood pressure. ⁷

Shalon’s death directly reflects the significant issue of WOC’s increased maternal mortality rates by highlighting how the poor medical treatment WOC receives can lead to their death. This mistreatment can be attributed to issues of systemic racism and doctors’ racial bias since these biases cause them to dismiss the concerns of WOC. So, within this racialized dismissal of WOC’s health and pain is where this issue of maternal mortality rates develops and persists—as shown by Shalon’s death.

Notably, these pain management inequalities exist outside of maternal contexts. In 2020, Dr. Susan Moore, a Black doctor, was hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms.⁸While receiving treatment, Dr. Moore told her White doctor multiple times that she was in pain and needed medication, but her requests were ignored and downplayed.⁹Upon feeling unheard, Dr. Moore made a viral social media post detailing her mistreatment, stating that such treatment was due to her being Black.¹⁰Sadly, after having her story heard and resonated with by many, she passed away two weeks later.¹¹

Like countless WOC and the women in the above examples, Dr. Moore’s pain and concerns were dismissed and ignored. However, what makes Susan’s story unique is that despite her being a well-versed medical professional, she still was subjected to racial bias and the effects of medical racism. Furthermore, Susan’s story further signifies the issue of racial prejudice and inadequate pain management being deeply connected, and it’s this connection that causes WOC to face inequities in how their pain is recognized and managed. Therefore, the stories of these women are essential to overview as they show the real-life harms caused by medical racism, and they also underscore a need for urgent change within our medical system and solutions that will promote WOC’s health and safety. 

Footnotes

1. Image Created by AI. ↩︎
2. Williams, S. (2018, February 20). Serena Williams: What my life-threatening experience taught me about giving birth. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/opinions/protect-mother-pregnancy-williams-opinion  
    
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3. Ibid. ↩︎
4. Ibid. ↩︎
5. Nina Martin, P., & Montagne, R. (2017, December 8). Black mothers keep dying after giving birth. Shalon Irving’s story explains why. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why    ↩︎
6. Ibid. ↩︎
7. Ibid. ↩︎
8. Andone, D. (2020, December 25). A black doctor died of covid-19 weeks after accusing hospital staff of racist treatment. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/24/us/black-doctor-susan-moore-covid-19/index.html    ↩︎
9. Ibid. ↩︎
10. Ibid. ↩︎
11. Ibid. ↩︎