Two black women said they were denied immediate medical attention despite being minutes away from giving birth.
The incidents, which occurred within days of each other in different states, highlight longstanding health disparities among black women, health experts say.
IN Tik Tok video It went viral: Texas resident Carrie Jones can be seen screaming while a nurse at Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite asks a series of questions, including her due date.
“Right now,” Jones screams, writhing in pain in his wheelchair.
Jones' mother, who filmed the video on Nov. 11, can be heard asking the nurse if she treats all patients the same, “or just the black ones.” The nurse doesn't answer.
In another video posted online, her mother says she asked hospital staff if they could move Jones to labor because she was visibly distressed. “She said, no, I need to fill out all this paperwork.”
Jones' family says they waited more than half an hour before she was admitted to the hospital. Jones' mother declined to comment.
“It hurts”
Less than a week later in Crown Point, Indiana, Mercedes Wells was rushed to Franciscan Hospital when her contractions were 10 minutes apart, she told NBC News.
As a mother of three children waiting at home in Illinois, Wells was familiar with labor pains and knew the contractions meant her fourth child could soon be born.
After six hours and an examination by nurses, Wells said, she was sent home without seeing a doctor.
“They didn't give me or my husband a chance to warm up the truck,” she said.
Her husband, Leon, said that as he was driving, “I can actually see the baby's head. I can see the baby's head right there. I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' I'm stopping.”
Eight minutes after Wells and her husband got into the truck, Wells gave birth while they were parked on the side of the road.
“It was a really terrible situation where you were treated like a dog, or not even like a dog, but less than,” Wells said.
“It says they don't care at all about the health of black women, and that's hurtful,” she later said. “We thought that, you know, things have changed in our country at this point, and I don’t see them changing.”
Her husband said he was worried he might lose his wife and baby during childbirth.
“What if questions confuse me as a man and an advocate, as a husband,” he said. “It was very difficult to see my wife go through this situation.”
In a statement, Dallas Regional Medical Center said in part that it prioritizes “the safety, dignity and well-being of our patients.”
“We are committed to providing compassionate, high-quality care to every person who walks through our doors, and we are looking into this situation to understand what happened,” the statement said.
Franciscan Hospital said it is conducting a thorough investigation into how Wells was allegedly treated by employees, adding in part that “the videos and the narrative surrounding them do not accurately reflect the hospital's values.”
Differences in maternal mortality
The maternal mortality rate among black women in the United States is significantly higher than among other racial groups. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women are three times more likely to die from childbirth than white women: 50 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 14.5 deaths among white women, 12 deaths among Hispanic women and 10 deaths among Asian women.
Black babies are more likely to die and be born prematurely, which can contribute to health problems later in life, according to the CDC.
“This is one of the stark disparities in all of medicine, and most of these deaths are preventable. Delay in care – exactly what we saw in the video – is one of the biggest factors. And so for me, this is not an isolated moment,” said Dr. Joel Burwell, a physician and social media personality who spoke out about the video.
“It is impossible to ignore the statistics that show that Black women are treated differently in the health care system,” he added.
Under a 1986 law called the Emergency Medical Services and Labor Act, emergency room workers are required to stabilize patients who appear to be in active labor. But the definition of active labor can be subjective, said legal analyst Angela Cenedella, a lawyer who does not represent Jones or Wells. The patient may be turned away if the health care provider decides that labor is not imminent.
“In cases where the situation changes quickly and the baby is born earlier than expected, it is not necessarily the hospital's responsibility… That's where subjectivity does exist,” she said, adding that if hospital staff are negligent in their decision-making “and fail to make decisions based on reasonable standards of care, then there is always the possibility of liability.”
“This shouldn’t happen to people”
The Wells family hired a lawyer who maintained contacts with hospital management. NBC Chicago reports..
Texas lawmakers said NBC Dallas-Fort Worth they meet with hospital administrators about Jones' treatment.
“We will continue to closely monitor the investigation, liaise with hospital leadership and work together to help restore trust and ensure that every person in our community receives fair and appropriate health care,” said Rep. Linda Garcia, a Democrat whose district includes part of Mesquite. statement on social networks.
Although these incidents have now been seen by millions, for Wells these moments remain intimate and poignant.
“Actually I was watching [the Texas] video while I was in the delivery room,” Wells said. “I didn’t think this could happen to me.”
She added: “This shouldn't happen to any woman. I don't care about race, ethnicity, anything else, none of that should matter. This shouldn't happen to people.”
