Healthcare and their Treatment Towards the Black Community

Edited by Catherine Verdeflor

The lives of many people of color, especially black people, have constantly been affected by racism, specifically how it has continuously caused them to be discriminated against in comparison to their white counterparts. While this notion holds its validity in many facets of society, such as entertainment, the work force, our criminal justice system, and education, the effects of racism seem to be the most severe and alarming when it comes to healthcare.

The trauma that Black people have experienced within the field of medicine is generational and roots all the way back to the 1800’s when slavery was once practiced in the United States. Healthcare professionals were notorious for performing medical procedures on enslaved Africans without the use of any form of pain alleviation or their consent. Gynecologic surgeon, J. Marion Sims, often deemed the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” was known for performing several experiments on enslaved women without the use of anesthesia (Gordon, 2014,pg. 3). This medical exploitation of black people would continue into the 20th century, as history witnesses the beginning of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study conducted by the United States Public Health Service and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1932. It was a study performed on black people of poor backgrounds which intentionally infected them with a disease called Syphilis; the patients were not aware that this would not be treated and only studied within them. Even when penicillin was developed and proven to be the illness’ cure, the patients would not receive treatment for the fatal condition nor be made aware of this information. This practice would continue for the next forty years until its end in 1972 (Gordon, 2014).

Nearly 20 years after the beginning of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the first line of “immortal” human cells, known as HeLa cells, would be developed; its name combining the first two letters of the first and last name of the woman the cells came from. Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who suffered and would eventually pass from cervical cancer in 1951, had tissue samples taken from her after her death by doctors at the John Hopkins Hospital without informing her of their intentions or receiving permission to proceed with their actions. Moreover, the medical records of her family were released without their consent or a right to view them themselves (Day, 2017). While John Hopkins has been working to reform their past actions, they need to raise more awareness on Lacks’/the Lacks’ story, as well as improve the way they treat their non-white patients and their ethical guidelines. The healthcare industry still widely continues to neglect their black patients in their times of need. In many cases, these problematic tendencies continue to cost black people their lives.

Just over 7 months ago, a black Youtuber by the name of Nicole Thea and her unborn child passed away after the YouTube personality had a massive heart attack (Hitchings-Hales, 2020). While it can be said for certain that Thea’s death was caused by negligence from healthcare professionals (although some speculated that her midwife failed to investigate complaints Nicole Thea had about her health, such shortness of breath), her death brought about the importance of racial disparities in maternal mortality rates. Black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications based off of where they live (with rates being as low as 1.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in states like New Hampshire and as high as 22.8 deaths in places like D.C.) and have the highest maternal mortality rate (25.1 deaths per 100,000 live births) compared to other groups of women (Non-white Hispanic Women – 10.3 deaths per 100,000; Non-Hispanic White women – 6.0 deaths per 100,000) (Flanders-Stephens, 2000, para. 1). The American Medical Association suggests that such stats are the direct result of factors such as the dismissal of “health-seeking behaviors” by medical professionals, which is often caused by the implicit biases they may feel towards black patients (Flanders-Stephens, 2020, para. 2).

We must educate our medical professionals on how to suppress but particularly eradicate their implicit and/or unconscious biases so that discrepancies, unfair treatment and generalizations, and harmful, unethical practices upon black people within our healthcare systems can remain/become things of the past.

References:

Day, J. A. (2017, October 13). Upholding the Highest Bioethical Standards. Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/upholding-the-highest-bioethical-standards.html

Flanders-Stepans, M. B. (2000). Alarming racial differences in maternal mortality. J Perinat Educ, Vol. 9(2), 50–51. doi: 10.1624/105812400X87653

Gordon, T. (2014, December 2). 5 Unethical Medical Experiments That Used Black People As Guinea Pigs. Atlanta Black Star. https://atlantablackstar.com/2014/12/02/5-unethical-medical-experiments-that-used-black-people-as-guinea-pigs/5/.

Hitchings-Hale, J. (2020, July 14). Tragic Death of Pregnant British YouTuber Sparks Debate on Racism in Maternal Health Care. Retrieved from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/nicole-thea-death-uk-racism-maternal-health-care/

[Untitled of a doctor and patient]. The Oprah Magazine. https://www.oprahmag.com/life/health/a23100351/racial-bias-in-healthcare-black-women/