Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Serena Williams Calls Racism In Health Care “Heartbreaking”
Nylon ^ | March 9, 2018 | Sandra Song

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.”


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Society; Sports
KEYWORDS: heathcare; serena; serenawilliams
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last
Serena Williams is a multimillionaire and receives the best healthcare imaginable.
1 posted on 03/13/2018 6:04:53 PM PDT by EdnaMode
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Ludicrous.


2 posted on 03/13/2018 6:06:14 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

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?


3 posted on 03/13/2018 6:09:29 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Some people will yell “racist!” If they look at the moon,


4 posted on 03/13/2018 6:10:07 PM PDT by House Atreides (BOYCOTT the NFL, its products and players 100% - PERMANENTLY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

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.


5 posted on 03/13/2018 6:11:10 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (If the illegal immigration issue were Social Security, it'd be privatized by now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

But she knows everyone else is treated like a slave because
Well she knows


6 posted on 03/13/2018 6:11:59 PM PDT by silverleaf (A man who kneels for the national anthem doesn't stand for much of anything)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

>>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).


7 posted on 03/13/2018 6:12:46 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (Wear an orange pin to mourn thvictims of the Tide Pods Challenge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

To a hammer every thing is a nail.


8 posted on 03/13/2018 6:12:50 PM PDT by Spruce
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
Hmmmm.

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?

9 posted on 03/13/2018 6:12:56 PM PDT by bkopto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
Williams also said it may be time for black women to "get feisty,"

Ummmmmm.......ok.

10 posted on 03/13/2018 6:17:59 PM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
The nurses, however, dismissed her initial CT scan request and performed an ultrasound instead.

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.

11 posted on 03/13/2018 6:20:24 PM PDT by blueplum ( "...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

[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.


12 posted on 03/13/2018 6:21:21 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (My "White Privilege" is my work ethic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: headstamp 2

Is she as sexy as that fashion model Michelle O?


13 posted on 03/13/2018 6:22:22 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

People are misdiagnosed everyday and it’s not limited to blacks.


14 posted on 03/13/2018 6:25:26 PM PDT by libertylover (Kurt Schlicter: "They wonder why they got Trump. They are why they got Trump")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

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.


15 posted on 03/13/2018 6:25:28 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (This country & world is living on borrowed time (Luke 17:26-27))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

6,000 years of humanity and some folks still have never learned how to communicate.

Cain got feisty too...


16 posted on 03/13/2018 6:26:59 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (This country & world is living on borrowed time (Luke 17:26-27))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

So she attributes the CT not being ordered because she is black? On what evidence?!
What a racist privileged nitwit.


17 posted on 03/13/2018 6:27:14 PM PDT by GnuThere
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

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.


18 posted on 03/13/2018 6:31:18 PM PDT by GnuThere
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

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.


19 posted on 03/13/2018 6:42:02 PM PDT by robel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

She’s a real rocket scientist, this one. /s


20 posted on 03/13/2018 6:44:03 PM PDT by defconw (Because Americans are dreamers, too!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson