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 haveand 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 theres 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.
There’s a Chuck E. Cheese video in there somewhere. Starring Maxine Waters.
No kidding. My wife was misdiagnosed last month and shes the only white one in the family.
“The risk of pregnancy-related deaths for black women is 3 to 4 times higher than those of white women...”
So this is supposedly a systemic health care problem? I have some theories - what are yours?
LMAO and ROTF
“Speaking to BBC”
If she had been treated under the NHS of England, she could be dead by now....
Pot, meet kettle.
She must have been talking to the ex-Seahawk Michelle (sic) Bennett.
Well, it must have been reverse racism... /s
Exactly what I was thinking
Number two worldwide
Have seen more attractive Congo gorillas.
Finally a minority getting upset that minority nurses and orderlies are killing whites by ignoring them.
Yeah i know she didnt mean that /sarc
What is ludicrous?
This will of course make the black female demographic even more appealling to every other demographic that literally shuns them.
A lot of fat chick lovers as well, no accounting for taste, even if the thought personally makes you gag.
“The nurses, however, dismissed her initial CT scan request and performed an ultrasound instead.”
Maybe the nurses know how much radiation dose a CT delivers?
except she is correct.
Blacks are treated differently than whites often because white Doctors treat only white patietns in the burbs.
Ran into this problem a couple of times with my black children.
Example, one girl had PCOS and had stopped menstruating. When I brought up PCOS the doc pooh poohed it because the daughter did not have facial hair grown which is also a symptom. Finally got a referral to a specialist who agreed, because blacks often do not have the hair follicles on their face to have that particular symptom of PCOS.
I suspect lack of going to and through pre-natal care.
Multiple sperm donors the sperm has gang wars inside the women they get dead
“feisty” patients may find note about their persona in their permanent records/files.
They may even be doped up while in hospital care to make them more compliant.
And no, that is not racial. And patients shouldn’t be doped up without being informed or consenting.
went off of DJT = went off on DJT
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