Elise Mitchell is a PhD. candidate at New York University. In a recent presentation at Utah State University’s Logan campus, Mitchell spoke about the history of enslaved people who were accused of feigning illness. As part of her talk, she presented historical examples of when this disbelief proved to be fatal.
When asked if she thought disbelief in medical treatment was still an issue today she said, “Certainly, I mean a lot of my presentation focused specifically on black women’s health and black women’s reproductive health and that’s an area that we continue to see this as a problem.
"We can even look at examples from some celebrities like Serena Williams, who had to ask for her own heparin drip and wasn’t believed, and so when black women are seeking care they regularly face diagnostic issues and issues with physicians not trusting them,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell cites another researcher, Dr. Deidre Cooper Owens, who has found this connection in Infant Mortality Rates across race. In a study released last month, Owens reveals although infant death rates overall have plummeted since the 19th century, the disparity between black and white infant deaths today is actually greater than it was under the antebellum slavery.
While Mitchell’s work primarily focuses on the turn of the 18th century, her research highlights modern day inequities.
“It’s something that’s a part of the bedrock of western medicine and it’s something that we have to contend with now and really do transformative work around in order to excise it,” she said.
A health equity webinar will be hosted by the Society of Public Health Education on Friday, October 25th, 2019. Details on how to participate can be found here.
Dr. Owens' cited article is titled Black Maternal and Infant Health: Historical Legacies of Slavery and can be read at the link here.
