Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth
2017
This investigation from ProPublica and NPR begins with the story of Shalon Irving, a young black epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a lieutenant commander in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. Irving, dedicated to addressing health inequities in the U.S., had died suddenly a few weeks after giving birth. Despite demonstrating symptoms of high blood pressure complications, health professionals missed multiple opportunities to diagnose her properly and connect her to effective treatment that would have avoided her death. Irving faced one of the most troubling health disparities facing black women in the U.S. today: maternal mortality. Even for controlling for education, economic status, black women die at disproportionately high rates compared to their white peers. Structural and social issues make for a deadly combination—a combination of differential access to healthy and safe living environments, decent jobs, and health insurance; hospitals shaped by historical segregation; undertreatment of health and pain issues in black patients; and other unconscious biases embedded in the medical system that impact the quality of care black mothers receive. However, it is the chronic stress associated with discrimination that makes black women more vulnerable to early onset of chronic diseases and adverse birth outcomes.
Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth
Source:
Martin N, Montagne R. Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth. ProPublica, NPR 2017; Dec 7. https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth.