What Will Your Impact Be? By Abigail Lindo

 

What Will Your Impact Be?

For

UW Freshman Seminar

3 November 2020

Written By

Abigail Lindo

washington.edu/uaa/ 

Introduction to the Life of a Pregnant Black Woman: 

Pregnant black women have never had it easy. With the combination of institutional racism in society as well as implicit bias in the health care system, they receive poor care because of the complexion of their skin. This diagram from NBC News shows how much a black woman’s life is at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted research that “Sixty percent of all pregnancy-related deaths can be prevented with better health care, communication and support, as well as access to stable housing and transportation…” This is where your role comes into play. In Yuval Noah Harari’s book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, he explains how human imagination has caused America to create hierarchies that divide(d) people into the “privileged” and the “oppressed”. This also plays into how systemic discrimination is caused. As you continue to read this paper, you will get a glimpse of the hardships of a pregnant black woman living in America and hopefully, you will know what steps you should take to protect them. Pregnancy is “the most physiologically complex and emotionally vulnerable time in a woman's life.” Black women specifically are at a higher risk: 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer, but 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes.  

Black expectants and new mothers in the U.S. even die at almost the same rate as women in Mexico and Uzbekistan. Reducing racial disparities in black newborn mortality along with black mothers requires the competence of racial and ethnic disparities that go further than just among physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators. It requires your competence. 

What’s Wrong With the Word “Probably”? 

Nobody knows their body better than themselves. Therefore, that doesn't mean they are the root cause of everything they feel. For black women, it’s the opposite. Usually, after being given an underdiagnosis their doctor tells them they’re “probably” not doing enough of this or not enough of that. Healthcare professionals tend to do a lot of victim-blaming and don’t take their pain seriously. It is medical narcissism. 

American writer, sociologist, and professor, Tressie McMillan Cottom was an unfortunate victim of medical narcissism. Just last January, she was about four months pregnant and she went to the obstetrics office. She bled through the chair in the waiting room after 30 minutes of sitting there in silence. Mind you, she had called ahead of time to report her condition. After eventually getting ushered to a doctor, the doctor said she was “probably just too fat and that spotting was normal”, sending her back home. That same night Tressie began to feel pains in her butt and called the nurse. The nurse responded by saying it was “probably constipation.” Three days passed and she was still in excruciating pain so she went to the hospital. After implying she had “eaten something ‘bad’”, the ultrasound showed she had three babies, except only one was an actual baby. She had two tumors and was told she had been in labor for three days. The nurse’s words were ‘You should have said something’. After going into a delivery operating room and begging for an epidural, she became unconscious and awoke to pushing and giving birth to her daughter. After one breath, her daughter died. Her nurse even said ‘Just so you know, there was nothing we could have done, because you did not tell us you were in labor.’ 

Take note of how many times Tressie was told she was “probably” doing something wrong. The people who treated her and her baby were in the wrong. She knew she felt uncomfortable yet they tried to convince her it was her fault and she wasn’t doing something right at home. Research conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has even shown the long-term consequences of medical narcissism. “33 percent of black women said that they personally had been discriminated against because of their race when going to a doctor or health clinic, and 21 percent said they have avoided going to a doctor or seeking health care out of concern they would be racially discriminated against. The commonality of giving people of color false information, after negligent treatment must seize. Therefore, the word “probably” needs to disappear from the vernacular of healthcare professionals. It is literally killing black women and their children. 

General Narcissism and Medical Narcissism  

Possessing narcissistic traits doesn’t mean someone is a pathological narcissist. In the article “How physicians become medical narcissists”, physician Shannon Casey argues that medical narcissism tends to develop early on as a mechanism of survival. There’s more to medical narcissism than one may believe. Health care providers are often seen as heroes, so they need to convince themselves that they can do anything they put their minds to and that they’re indestructible. By simply being a healthcare provider, the sense of respect and praise that comes with it can boost their ego and self-esteem. This is where the narcissistic personality traits appear. Shannon Casey claims many patient interactions provide medical narcissists with precisely the emotional support and affirmation for which they are longing. This leads them to believe they are invincible and incapable of mistakes, and if they do make a mistake it’s blamed on something else or not acknowledged at all. Due to the fact that their self-esteem is so high, it in a way blocks their insecurities from being shown to the public. When someone triggers a physician’s insecurities, they “typically exhibit withdrawal, bewilderment, arrogance, or rage.” So, what needs to happen is finding a solution for health care providers to have healthy coping mechanisms not only with medical knowledge but also clinical skills.  

While medical narcissism tends to develop early, it is important to be able to recognize it in and out of the medical field. The story of Dharun Ravi, analyzed by Jean M. Twenge in “Generation Me on Trial”, depicts a perfect picture of general narcissism. Mr. Ravi, a Rutgers University student who wanted to have some fun one night, quickly regretted it the next day. One night, he set up a webcam in the dorm room, so he and his friends could watch his roommate, Tyler Clementi, have a sexual encounter with another man. This led Tyler to commit suicide the next day. Mr. Ravi was only a college freshman and revealed an empathy deficit and lacked the ability to take someone’s perspective, similar to medical narcissists. While “Mr. Ravi’s attorneys argued he was not guilty because he was young and immature,” he still faced 10 years in prison.  Jean M. Twenge claims that it wasn't only Mr. Ravi who displayed narcissistic characteristics, but in fact, a plethora of current college students did. She expresses that, “Narcissism, a personality trait linked to blaming others for problems, has also increased among college students.”  

You, a student at the University of Washington, one of the best schools to go to be a healthcare professional need to be extra cautious about the effect's narcissism may have on you. You’re susceptible to encountering these traits because you’re a current college student and because you’re seeking to become a healthcare professional or provider. You have the power to create the impact you leave on others.

 

 

Works Cited

“America Is Failing Its Black Mothers.” Harvard Public Health Magazine, 10 June 2020, www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/america-is-failing-its-black-mothers/.

Broster, Alice. “Why Are Black Mothers At More Risk Of Dying?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 22 July 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/alicebroster/2020/07/22/why-are-black-mothers-at-more-risk-of-dying/?sh=6d4ffaa114c9.

Chuck, Elizabeth. “The U.S. Finally Has Better Maternal Mortality Data. Black Mothers Still Fare the Worst.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 30 Jan. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/u-s-finally-has-better-maternal-mortality-data-black-mothers-n1125896.

Cottom, Tressie McMillan, and Thick: And Other Essays. “Pregnant Black Women Are Treated as If They're Incompetent.” Time, Time, 8 Jan. 2019, time.com/5494404/tressie-mcmillan-cottom-thick-pregnancy-competent/.

Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Huge Racial Disparities Found in Deaths Linked to Pregnancy.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/07/health/pregnancy-deaths-.html.

Shannon Casey, PA-C. “How Physicians Become Medical Narcissists.” KevinMD.com, KevinMD.com, 25 July 2019, www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/07/how-physicians-become-medical-narcissists.html.