#medical racism

[smoov-criminal]

i just rbed a post about something similar but. i need my white disabled to folks to be more aware of the privileges they have when navigating the healthcare system. every bit of medical ableism one can experience can be made even worse by being a poc. some of us can't threaten to report a doctor to the ethics board, or refuse care from healthcare workers who aren't masking, without jeopardizing our access to care in general or even our physical safety. we are more likely to be seen as drug seeking, or marked as noncompliant, or experience medical abuse and neglect. that's not to say these things don't happen to white disabled people, but i just think it's important to recognize how dangerous receiving medical care can be for disabled poc specifically. please keep this in mind when giving advice on navigating healthcare.

[whatbigotspost]

Some good news! The AMA is getting on the right side of some important stuff this week:

I’m the first to bring out snide, “gender affirming care is GOOD?!?????” And “the BMI is racist, fatphobic junk science?!???? CALL THE PRESSES!!!!” comments but I’m taking a sec to acknowledge this is actually really, really good.

The AMA is the largest professional association of medical physicians and carries enormous sway and power. We need them to move the needle on this shit, even if it is frustrating they feel years behind.

[odinsblog]

Rest In Peace, Tori Bowie

While some vehemently deny that structural racism exists and that even individual doctors hold internal biases against Black women, maternal mortality rates do not lie.

👉🏿 https://firstandpen.com/torie-bowie-serena-williams-allyson-felix-pregnancy-black-maternal-health-mortality/

Even though 60% of all childbirth-related deaths in the US are preventable, the "[racial] disparities around maternal health are not improved by access to insurance, access to education," according to double board-certified neonatologist and pediatrician Dr. Terri Maior-Kincade.

"Having a higher socio-economic status for Black women is not protective," Major-Kincade told Insider. "These disparities are related to systemic issues, and they're not going to get better until we provide equitable care. So we have to improve the way we deliver care to Black women so that we can have the full joy of pregnancy."

👉🏿 https://www.insider.com/allyson-felix-near-death-pregnancy-issues-black-moms-face-2022-6

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

-fae

[vague-humanoid]

The 31-year-old black African woman was taken to Liverpool Women's Hospital by the North West Ambulance Service on 13 March 2023.

Investigators from the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MSNI), the national body to improve maternity safety, detailed how the woman was suffering "acute" pain and was taken to the gynaecology ward. 

An ultrasound scan the following day found the baby had died, with the woman's condition deteriorating.

After her condition became critical, she was rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital where she died two days later.

The cause of her death was recorded as acute intestinal ischaemia - where the blood flow to the bowel is restricted - and thrombophilia and pregnancy. 

Although the coroner determined the cause of death was a "natural cause", an MSNI report into the incident concluded that "ethnicity and health inequalities impacted on the care provided to the patient, suggesting that "an unconscious cultural bias delayed the timing of diagnosis and response to her clinical deterioration". 

The report added: "This was evident in discussions with staff involved in the direct care of the patient."

The MSNI report, which was accessed through the Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust's board papers published earlier this month, found there were "missed opportunities for escalation to gynaecology colleagues...when there was a suspicion of a bowel obstruction, and escalation to the anaesthetic team was not considered". 

The MSNI report said: "Decision making impacted upon the care that she received and with the level of pain that she experienced; earlier intervention to support addressing pain was required.

"There was an opportunity for an X-ray to be performed earlier and for CT imaging to be undertaken.

"Additionally, there were opportunities for an MRI scan to be discussed and a referral made to the Royal Liverpool Hospital at an earlier time." 

The report noted that these vital observations were not performed as the patient was being "difficult refusing to have her observations undertaken due to the amount of pain she was experiencing".

The MSNI determined this led to missed opportunities to detect deterioration and escalate concerns.

The investigators also found "the impact of the junior doctors' strike" and low staffing were among other factors that contributed to the delays. 

The hospital's response to the report also found: "The approach presented by some staff, and information gathered from staff interviews, gives the impression that cultural bias and stereotyping may sometimes go unchallenged and be perceived as culturally acceptable within the Trust." 

@startorrent02

[lifewithchronicpain]

White people who visit hospital emergency departments with pain are 26% more likely than Black people to be given opioid pain medications such as morphine. This was a key finding from our recent study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. We also found that Black patients were 25% more likely than white patients to be given only non-opioid painkillers such as ibuprofen, which are typically available over the counter. (Read more at link)

This is one of those things that I think we all knew, but it's good to have research backing it up. And we also know female pain is often discounted too, so another area where black women often suffer the most from this inexcusable medical racism.

[natandacat]

The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease, Jonathan Metzl

[magnetothemagnificent]

Dental schools when white applicants were able to get clinical jobs through family and school connections: "Yes, networking, an excellent skill for a prospective student. Well done."

Dental schools when non-white applicants were able to get clinical jobs through family and school connections: "Did you really merit that job though? I think you just used your connections as a crutch and didn't put actual work in. Not the kind of quality we want in a student."

[djuvlipen]

Here is a VERY good article in Romanian about medical racism against Romani women. I am going to run it on Google Translate because I don't speak Romanian and add the translation in a reblog in a second. I would recommend anyone who speaks Romanian to read it as it's a very essential reading.

[observers-journal]

Some healthcare advice for my lovely ladies here..

I was just reading this New York Times article about how women of color experience Perimenopause and Menopause differently from the conventionally established standards according to the White Race.

Clearly, women from different races have very different experiences, duration, and intensity of symptoms. Just a gentle reminder to all my wonderful women here: do not ignore what your body tells you. Healthcare systems are biased to ignore women's pain, doctors have limited understanding of our anatomies, and these issues are far worse when we account race into the equation as well. Speak up if your doctor doesn't take you seriously.

Also, always remember to get scanned for breast and cervical cancers. Keep an eye out for anything unusual. Love y'all! ❤️

The article is behind a paywall. Please message me if you want to read the whole article!

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I met a doctor who explained to me that many "rare" diseases are now more common because before they were extremely underdiagnosed and are still underdiagnosed due to the lack of access to exams, etc. Many people of color receive a late diagnosis or live without ever receiving it. My cousin was lucky enough to receive great medical care while he was working in another country and discovered a brain condition, in USA no doctor was interested in finding out what was happening to him.

yeah that's so shitty. I hope he got good medical care!!! but the american healthcare system is so broken. like obamacare was a great step forward but there's still so much racism and doctors not taking patients seriously.

mod ali

[odinsblog]

Krystal Anderson, a former cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs, died of sepsis last week following a stillbirth, according to her family. She was 40 years old.

Anderson, known to her friends as “Krissy,” was hospitalized at five months pregnant and delivered her daughter, Charlotte Willow, after doctors were unable to locate a heartbeat, friends told FOX4 News. She developed a fever a day after the birth. Her condition worsened and she battled sepsis, which eventually led to organ failure. Despite being placed on life support and undergoing three surgeries, she died early Wednesday morning.

“I feel lost,” her husband, Clayton Anderson, told the station. “There’s a lot of people in this house and it feels empty.”

In her post-NFL career, Anderson taught yoga and worked as a software engineer at Oracle Health. She “fiercely advocated” for both Black women in STEM and women’s health, according to an obituary. She also had a philanthropic streak, and worked with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of KC, the perinatal bereavement nonprofit Gabriella’s Little Library, and the Oracle Health Foundation.

“She was an absolute force for good. She made every room just light up,” her husband said.

While overall maternal deaths in the U.S. have steadily ticked up over the past two decades, Black women remain two to three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the risks to Black mothers exacerbated by implicit bias and medical racism, they are also more likely to experience life-threatening complications like preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, and blood clots.

“It’s, you know, we say, the best country in the world, right?” Anderson’s husband told FOX4 News. “Not if you’re a Black pregnant woman, it’s not—and that needs to change.”

(continue reading)

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

I made a post a few months ago (with the permission of my friend) about the medical racism my Black/ Indigenous friend experienced. He went to a white male doctor for 8 months, and was so sick he could barely eat. And it took one appointment from a doctor that was a woman of color to get a diagnosis, scheduled for surgery, and a treatment plan. (There weren't any Black specialists in his area).

He's doing much better now, and you better bet your ass that him and everyone that cares about him would feel safer with him going to these Black doctors.

-fae