I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman

[Ms. Toad]

18. My reaction, as well.

I was not pregnant, but otherwise had very similar derrogatory and medically incompetent experiences with fibroids at the hands of not one - but 3 - male physicians as I bled nearly to death over a period of around 4 months while they insisted (1) I had bone cancer and (2) I was imagining that I was bleeding more than a couple of tablespoons of blood a month (it was approximately 1 quart - finding a way to measure it was the first step to getting appropriate medical care).

And just 2 weeks ago, I was scolded for screaming (because there were children present) after I gave the medical staff very explicit instructions as to the need to move my knee and toes simultaneously, which was ignored, followed by my demand that the nurse stop, also ignored, causing me to scream in agony as the jagged edges of the spiral fracture dug into my flesh.

I'm not denying that black women have it worse (any additional layer of "otherness" diminishes the quality of treatment (minority, LGBT, fat). But the treatment above is at least as much gender-based as it is race-based.