After a story about a 15-year-old California cheerleader dying after medical professionals dismissed her claims of chest pains, black women shared similar stories on Twitter about their health issues being ignored.
Yunique Morris died after doctors ignored her grievances of ongoing chest pain for two weeks. According to Fox 40, Yunique was originally diagnosed with a chest-wall pain. So, doctors prescribed some medication and antibiotics and told her to get some rest.
But the chest pain persisted and she was having issues breathing. Then, her mother took her back to the doctor and asked for an X-ray but staff told them that Yunique was experiencing inflammation and she would be fine.
The girl wasn't fine. “I NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, I JUST PASSED OUT, I’M THROWING UP NOW,” the text message Yunique sent to her mother earlier this month read. She was rushed to an emergency room in San Joaquin where she was pronounced dead. Doctors discovered that Yunique died from several blood clots in her chest.
On Twitter, others had very similar cases where doctors misdiagnosed them or flat out ignored their health issues.
I only go to WOC doctors after a white female doctor accused me of lying on my medical history bc I hadn't had an abortion. #BlackGirlHealth
https://t.co/rS6XSWDZFr— ???? Summer17 ???? (@KayReneeESQ) July 21, 2017
#blackgirlhealth. I sat in the ER for 4 hours the first time i had clots in my lungs. I felt myself dying.
— Alicia // Yori (@AnAmazingFeat) July 21, 2017
#BlackGirlHealth I very recently had a Dr. attempt to force a speculum inside of me. She only stopped after I started bleeding.
— Yo Mama (@courtdanee) July 21, 2017
I was on birth control for 2 weeks before my leg started giving me excruciating pain to the point where I couldn't walk #blackgirlhealth
— Jazz (@sneaksNheelz) July 22, 2017
Reading all of these #BlackGirlHealth hashtags is just burning me up inside. I'm disgusted with how we as black women are treated. This…..
— eerahsaihsA???????????? (@Ashia_Sharee) July 23, 2017
Film critic @ValerieComplex shared how a misdiagnosis led to infertility. Doctors continued to not listen to her even after years of complaints.
I can't have children bc of years of medically dismissed reproductive issues. While in the military, they found I had stage 4 endometriosis
— VzA (@ValerieComplex) July 21, 2017
That's after 5 years of complaints and nearly bleeding to death due to fibroids and heavy periods.
— VzA (@ValerieComplex) July 21, 2017
When the opportunity came to take the fibroids out, I was told to "think about having children before getting such an invasive surgery."
— VzA (@ValerieComplex) July 21, 2017
Here we are, 4 years, and 10 fibroids later, nothing has changed. Male and female doctors feeding me the "but what about children" rhetoric
— VzA (@ValerieComplex) July 21, 2017
after 7 years of telling them@I don't want any. Due to waiting, too many scars and adhesions, I can't give birth even if I wanted to.
— VzA (@ValerieComplex) July 21, 2017
As politicians continue to use real people as political pawns in the healthcare debate, black women could suffer the most because of the inherent racial bias and negligence pointed out by these women above.
