Posted on 03/13/2018 6:04:53 PM PDT by EdnaMode
n a new interview, Serena Williams spoke about how her pregnancy complications made her more cognizant of the problems black women encounter within the U.S. health care system.
Speaking to BBC, the tennis superstar said it "may be time for women to be comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations," as "doctors aren't listening to us."
Pointing out that she was "in a really fortunate situation," since she had a "wonderful, wonderful doctor" and knows her body so well, Williams lamented the fact that most black people aren't in the same position. As previously detailed, Williams, who has a history of blood clots, had gone without her usual daily medication during the birth of her daughter, Alexis Olympia. While recovering from her C-section, Williams began suspecting she had a blood clot in her lungs. The nurses, however, dismissed her initial CT scan request and performed an ultrasound instead. After Williams insisted on sending for a CT scan, it was found that she did, in fact, have clots.
"There are some things we are genetically pre-disposed to that some people aren't. So knowing that going in, or some doctors not caring as much for us, is heartbreaking," she said. "Because of what I went through, it would be really difficult if I didn't have the healthcare that I have—and to imagine all the other women that do go through that without the same healthcare, without the same response, it's upsetting."
Williams also said it may be time for black women to "get feisty," saying, "I think it's important to speak up loud and clear and say: 'No, this isn't right. Treat me the same way that you're treating...' How am I going to explain to my son that he is getting more? How am I going to explain to my daughter that she is getting less than my son? To me it's impossible to explain this."
And she has a point. "The risk of pregnancy-related deaths for black women is 3 to 4 times higher than those of white women," a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated. And per a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, there is indeed an unconscious bias amongst health professionals, as they "were less likely to refer women and black patients for cardiac catheterizations, compared with white male patients."
“I think there’s a lot of pre-judging, absolutely, that definitely goes on,” Williams told the BBC. “And it needs to be spoken about, it needs to be addressed.”
Ludicrous.
And per a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, there is indeed an unconscious bias amongst health professionals, as they “were less likely to refer women and black patients for cardiac catheterizations, compared with white male patients.”
So, statistically there is no difference in the risk of white males, women, and black men?
Some people will yell “racist!” If they look at the moon,
I’m sick and tired of wealthy or celebrity blacks still trying to “keep it real.” To me, it’s another way of pulling the rug out from other blacks who want to be rich and famous too.
But she knows everyone else is treated like a slave because
Well she knows
>>The nurses, however, dismissed her initial CT scan request and performed an ultrasound instead.
What color were these nurses.
When my mom, dad, and brother have gone into hospitalization, their nurses were mostly black women.
And I’ve found the quality of medical care to be in serious decline. Third world doctors with no bedside manner.
And my parents both suffered life threatening complications from being taken off meds or otherwise affected while they were hospitalized for a different condition (like heart surgery).
To a hammer every thing is a nail.
Patients requesting what kind of imaging exams they want or think they need?
Not to mention calling racism or whatever if they don't get their way.
Then there's this:
The nurses, however, dismissed her initial CT scan request and performed an ultrasound instead.
Nurses are in charge of what imaging exams are on tap? What kind of hospital did our disadvantaged star go to anyway?
Ummmmmm.......ok.
no, the nurses passed on the request to her attending doctor, who ordered the ultrasound, which was performed not by a nurse, but by a registered ultrasound technician. Serena needs to address her 'wonderful wonderful doctor', and get off the backs of the people who do the real work - that she is apparently racist towards.
[Williams also said it may be time for black women to “get feisty,”]
Is that a step back from beating the hell out of each other?
What nonsense.
Is she as sexy as that fashion model Michelle O?
People are misdiagnosed everyday and it’s not limited to blacks.
I wonder what type of healthcare this spoiled walrus would get in Tanzania or Botswana?
They’d be lucky to have water buckets brought to the tent she’d be forced to squat in during delivery I bet.
6,000 years of humanity and some folks still have never learned how to communicate.
Cain got feisty too...
So she attributes the CT not being ordered because she is black? On what evidence?!
What a racist privileged nitwit.
And her baby daddy is a billionaire.
I seriously doubt the hospital was intentionally blowing her off. A Monday morning QB would say the initial testing was not aggressive enough, even so, WTF would her race have to do with it.
Serena thinks white people get great healthcare because, why? Because they’re white. I can assure her white people get just as lousy healthcare as she got, even worse. She might want to put some blame on the previous President.
She’s a real rocket scientist, this one. /s
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