Summary:
This article was published in the New York Times Magazine and tells the story of Simon Landrum, an African American woman who suffered a stillbirth in 2016. Landrum’s story corroborated with many others demonstrate the crisis in black maternal and infant mortality in the United States.
Landrum noticed early signs of discomfort different than her previous pregnancies: sensitivity to light, headaches, and swollen feet and hands. Her doctor told her to take tylenol for the headaches and brushed off her concerns. At another appointment, Landrum reported that the headaches had intensified, and a handwritten note wedged in the files of her medical records notes a high blood pressure reading of 143/86. Nearly all of her symptoms pointed to pre-eclampsia (dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy), however her official medical records to not mention high blood pressure or swelling. When Landrum complained more forcefully, her doctor offered to deliver the baby by C section before he went on vacation, a full 6 weeks earlier than the due date.
Four days later, Landrum lost her child and nearly bled to death in the process, needing nearly half a dozen of blood platelets to survive. Her story is one of many documented in this article. Studies have shown that black infants are more than twice as likely to die as white infants, and black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes. The racial disparity in infant and maternal mortality has been cited as a result of societal and systematic racism that creates toxic physiological stress. The dismissal of legitimate concerns and symptoms, hesitation to prescribe medicine, and neglection of care all contribute to the racial bias in health care that explains the black-white divide.
Questions:
- What steps can be taken to improve black infant and maternal mortality rate?
- Do the statistics surprise you? Why or why not?
- Why do you think the US still has this crisis even though we are a developed and wealthy nation?
6 comments:
A step that can be taken to improve the mortality rates of African American babies is analyzing how these babies die and making a plan to stop that. The statistics surprise me, because the data only points to one type of ethnicity having the problems. I think this is an effect from how blacks were treated back then. Now we are seeing the product of past racism.
As much as I would like to deny that these statistics surprise me, they truly do not given the history of our nation and how prejudice and racism are prevalent today, even if they are not as blatant. Though I do not know much about Landrum’s doctor’s credentials, their obvious lack of concern for her well-being is inexcusable. I think a stepping stone in the right direction of improving infant & maternal mortality rates is distributing doctors highly specialized in the OB-GYN field in areas with a concentrated black population. By having specialized doctors in these regions, all women, including African American women, will have the ability to receive the quality care they so deserve.
I am somewhat surprised by these statistics, but it is kind of expected given our history of treating African Americans in the U.S. I think that the lower infant and maternal mortality rates are likely due to doctors that are either poorly trained or doctors that are just racist and choose to discriminate against the needs of African Americans. This can be improved by better training or even training more minorities in certain fields like OB-GYN to try to prevent racial discrimination.
Although I never knew these statistics before, like Angelique, I am also not very surprised by this disparity in our country. Our country has always treated black women like they are at the bottom of the metaphorical "totem pole" of whose lives "matter," and I think it's horrible that this continues even today. I think that the US's infant mortality rate is so high in general compared to rich nations due to us having a larger number of health professionals than in other countries who have been shown to disregard women's health, from ignoring when they urge that they are sick to downplaying their pain and claiming they're overreacting. Just like Landrum's doctor ignored her even when she displayed obvious and quantifiable signs that something was wrong, even offering terrible medical advice (like wanting to deliver the baby 6 weeks early), so many women experience similar situations in the US, and this number gets worse when racist doctors disregard black women's lives. I like Angelique's solution of distributing specialized OB-GYNs black-concentrated areas, but I feel like this racial disparity can't be fixed until our country at least works to unlearn and combat its racism.
Like Erin, I did not know the statistics on this issue but I'm truly not surprised. Systematic racism continues to be a prevalent issue in our country even today and thus makes sense that black mothers experience higher mortality rates. I think a huge part of it is that the black population tends to live in underprivileged areas and might not have access to secure healthcare. Overall, this issue is so much greater than we think and needs to be addressed by professionals.
I am not surprised by these statistics. It's 2018 and racism is still normalized no matter the environment and it is terrible. The fact that professionals do not care about African American babies says a lot about America, and why things need to be fixed.
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