Two pregnant Black women nearly 1,000 miles apart were ready to do what many do every day: welcome new bundles of joy, and just before the start of the holiday season. Instead, the health of both women and their babies was put at risk after hospital staff did not immediately provide the needed care.
One woman was discharged and delivered her baby on the side of an Indiana highway, while the other nearly gave birth in a Texas hospital’s emergency waiting room. Both women survived, but are still reeling from ordeals that have drawn national attention 鈥� in part, because they were captured on video and shared on social media.
Each instance highlights the long-standing and rising disparities in health outcomes for Black women, who die at a rate nearly 3.5 times higher than white women around the time of childbirth, according to a report.
While maternal mortality rates for white, Hispanic and Asian women fell in 2023, according to the CDC report, the rate for Black women barely budged.
Now, the women鈥檚 families, health organizations and civil rights advocates are urging the medical profession to address systemic racism that they say perpetuates Black women’s experiences.
鈥業 felt dismissed鈥�
Mercedes Wells鈥� water had already broken when a nurse at Indiana’s Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital checked on her in triage, a room typically designated for women in earlier trimesters of pregnancy.
Wells, already a mother of three, knew the baby could come at any minute. The nurse did not believe she was going into labor, Wells recalled.
鈥淪he still suggested that I be discharged and I begged, 鈥楴o, I can鈥檛 be discharged. Please don鈥檛 discharge me because I am about to have this baby,鈥欌�� Wells, 38, told The Associated Press from her Chicago area home in Dolton, Illinois.
鈥淚 began to wail because I was in so much pain, and my feelings were hurt because that was happening to me. So I let out a cry, you know? The nurses showed no compassion, none of them,鈥� said Wells, whose experience was captured in a now-viral video of her crying in pain as nurses pushed her toward the exit.
But she was out of time. Wells felt the baby coming.
Her husband, Leon, loaded her into their car and sped away hoping to reach another hospital. Thereafter, in the early morning hours of Nov. 16, he pulled over on a Lake County highway and delivered their daughter.
Wells said the nurses she saw were all white, and all assured her that concerns were relayed to the attending physician.
鈥淚 felt dismissed. I felt ignored, disregarded as a whole,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 dealing with this pain, and they鈥檙e all watching me from the nurse鈥檚 station as if it鈥檚 normal to send someone out in that much pain.鈥�
Franciscan Health Crown Point said in a statement that both the nurse and physician involved in Wells鈥� ordeal were fired and that the hospital has mandated cultural competency training for all labor and delivery staff.
鈥淲e must fix what failed in our hospital so that no one experiences what happened to Mercedes Wells,鈥� said Raymond Grady, the hospital鈥檚 president and CEO.
Several days before Wells鈥� ordeal, Kiara Jones and her mother received similar treatment at a Texas hospital.
On Nov. 10, Jones, in active labor at Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, was visibly distressed and screaming in pain, a now-viral video shared online by her mother shows. Instead of immediately admitting her to labor and delivery, Jones鈥� family says, staff left her in a triage area for more than 30 minutes.
鈥淵鈥檃ll treat all your patients like this or just the Black ones?鈥� Jones’ mother asks in the video.
Jones gave birth minutes after she was finally moved to a labor and delivery room.
鈥淢s. Kiara Jones鈥� experience during admission, labor, and delivery raises profound and disturbing concerns about Dallas Regional鈥檚 policies, practices, staff training, and culture with respect to obstetric care 鈥� particularly for women of color,鈥� reads a letter to the hospital from Jones’s attorneys, the national civil rights firm Romanucci & Blandin and the Dunk Law Firm.
The incident is under review by the hospital, which also said in a statement to AP that 鈥渢he safety, dignity, and well-being of our patients are always our highest priorities.鈥�
Texas state Rep. Rhetta Bowers, who is Black, said the hospital provided limited information after she asked for 鈥渇ull answers and real corrective action.鈥�
鈥淭he outrage we鈥檙e seeing is not just about one horrifying incident; it reflects long-standing inequities in healthcare that Black families have endured for generations,鈥� Bowers said in a statement released last week.
Postdelivery complications
Postpartum care is also an area Black women face challenges in.
Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections are leading causes of postpartum maternal deaths. For Black women, not being believed when reporting postpartum discomfort or pain is often also a matter of life or death, advocates say.
Wells, the Illinois mother, was admitted to a different hospital a week after giving birth, after experiencing shortness of breath. Doctors there told her she was experiencing additional pain caused by sitting upright in the car during delivery.
鈥淚t was just, I guess, a setback. I was bent over. I couldn鈥檛 even walk,鈥� Wells told the AP. 鈥淭he pain was so bad. I鈥檝e never experienced anything like that, so we had to call the ambulance and they had to get me out of bed.鈥�
Although Wells was discharged 24 hours later, her husband told the AP he remains vigilant about the ongoing impact of her experience at the first hospital.
For Jones, in Texas, several medical tests were required for her and her newborn, according to local press accounts. In one account, her baby was stressed and had an in utero bowel movement, which her family has said was caused by the delay in care.
SisterSong, a southern U.S.-based national reproductive justice collective, found that regardless of income, education level, or how they presented themselves, Black women reported being treated differently from others at their doctors鈥� offices.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the wealthiest of people to the most everyday Black woman just trying to live in this country, and unfortunately, their stories are the same,鈥� said Monica Simpson, the organization鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淭hey are not trusted or listened to.鈥�
鈥楾here needs to be a big change鈥�
Following her experience, Wells says she distrusts the health care system. Both she and her husband say they now plan to do more research when going to a hospital to ensure 鈥渘othing like this or remotely close to this鈥� happens again.
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e going to document everything,鈥� Leon Wells said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to come in with expectations that we might be getting treated wrong, because we鈥檙e scared from it.鈥�
Some of that fear reflects research showing that implicit bias, false assumptions about pain tolerance and structural racism contribute to slower triage, delayed analgesia and inadequate emergency response for Black patients overall, according to the National Black Nurses Association.
鈥淭he situations we see across the country are not accidents, they are symptoms of systemic failures in maternal care. Respectful, timely, lifesaving maternity care is non-negotiable. Hospitals must not only investigate these incidents; they must change,鈥� said Dr. Sheldon D. Fields, the association鈥檚 president.
For the Wellses, it comes down to something even more fundamental.
鈥淭here needs to be a big change as far as people needing to show empathy,鈥� said Leon Wells. 鈥淚f you’re in this field of caring for others when they need you, care.鈥�
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