Black women call attention to poor medical outcomes, persistent mistreatment in American healthcare system

By Reginald WilliamsSpecial to the AFROThe marginalization of Black women in health care continues to be plagued by dismissive medical professionals and practices.& Historically, Black women experience disproportionately poor health outcomes. Stress, pervasive racism, gender discrimination and exclusion from clinical research have far-reaching effects on their overall health. Black women have a more significant chance of dying in childbirth than White women—approximately four times the rate of White women. Approximately 60 percent of those deaths, according to medical experts, are preventable.& Studies show that Black women are disproportionately impacted by health disparities, for a variety of reasons including a lack of access to care and health insurance. In 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000, a significant jump from the average of 26.6 deaths per 100,000 for White women.& The American Cancer Society reports that about one-third of African-American women experienced racial discrimination from healthcare providers. According to Health Equity Among Black Women in the United States, a Journal of Women’s Health article authored by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the health disparities experienced by Black women& are the “reflection of& the inequalities experienced by Black women on a host of social and...