Black Woman Somehow Given Substandard Medical Care


You may or may not know, but giving women substandard medical care is kind of a thing. Giving Black women even worse medical care is kind of a thing also, too. So imagine my surprise when I learned that a the person who was treated for a gunshot wound at a Florida hospital using just a bandaid and a scrip for prophylactic antibiotics was a Black woman, Shakena Jefferson, who was married to another woman.

But I’m sure that turned out well, since the news never reports anything bad right? Right?

:Sigh:

As it happens, the treatment the hospital gave her was perfectly appropriate for a graze would, but not for someone with a hunk of bullet embedded in her skull – the sphenoid or anterior temporal bones by the looks of it – as was revealed three days later by x-ray at a different hospital when her pain didn’t go away.

I don’t actually mind giving graze wounds treatment appropriate for graze wounds. I do mind the lesser credibility and importance we give to Black women’s medical complaints, which has proved time and again to be a source of under treatment of important medical concerns and a contributor to Black women’s lower life expectancies.

But that’s okay, we elected Obama and nominated Clinton, so I’m sure that misogynoir is no longer a problem and there’s no need for health professionals to overturn hospital carts like a common Jesus until we stop dismissing Black women’s concerns with pats on their bullet-embedded heads.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *