Elizabeth Warren says doctors, nurses don't treat black women same way as other women

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Specializes in Surgical, Home Infusions, HVU, PCU, Neuro.

Is it bash medical professions month and I just didn't realize it?

Don't get me wrong I do believe that prejudice exists but according to Ms. Warren, the only concievable reason for the increased materials deaths in African American women is due to doctors and nurses being prejudice. This is absolutely ludicrous.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-doctors-nurses-black-women.amp

4 Votes
Specializes in ER.

Is another politician trying to infuriate nurses?

8 Votes
Specializes in Cardiology.

*sigh* Her political motives aside...she has a point. Now to generalize and say that all nurses and doctors treat black women differently, is far reaching but there is implicit bias out there, not only have I seen it, I’ve experienced it.

I worked PRN at a hospital and went in around 2 am with 10/10 colicky abdominal pain and I’d had n/v/d for hours. I went to that ED because it was closest to my house. The nurses were nice enough but didn’t seem to take me too seriously. The MD comes in and does an exam and when I wince as he’s palpating, he actually asked “ are you sure that really hurts” with a very condescending tone. They were treating me like a drug seeker, even after I told them I was a nurse there. They finally ordered a CT and gave me a bag of fluids and protonix, saying it was acute gastritis. The MD even said my CT was negative. The pain went away but returned with a vengeance that afternoon. This time I went to the hospital I worked full time at. One of the residents recognized and pulled my records from the hospital. He told me that everything I was experiencing sounded exactly like gallstones and when he pulled my CT (from the other hospital) it confirmed it. I went to surgery that night because it was so inflamed.

So whether you believe my story story or not, take a moment to do some research on this matter and you’ll see that lots has been done, especially in regards to the AA are treated for pain by providers.

49 Votes

I'm originally from Massachusetts.

I think her claim is as valid as her "claim"of a certain heritage she boasts of.

The percentage (degree) of it, doesn't provide the whole picture.

Will there be prejudiced individuals? Of course there will be.

Do those prejudiced individuals represent the "entire picture?" Of course not.

In this case, the "entire picture" according to Warren, exists on prejudice alone?

No way this nurse will be voting for her now.

11 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.

There's fairly extensive evidence that shows poorer outcomes in black patients results from different treatment, mainly in the primary care setting, this is separate from other know causes of outcome disparities such as lack of insurance, poverty, or genetic linked causes.

For those that apparently disagree with the research, maybe you could be more specific about what you find faulty about it.

50 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
On 4/28/2019 at 11:43 AM, KonichiwaRN said:

I'm originally from Massachusetts.

I think her claim is as valid as her "claim"of a certain heritage she boasts of.

The percentage (degree) of it, doesn't provide the whole picture.

Will there be prejudiced individuals? Of course there will be.

Do those prejudiced individuals represent the "entire picture?" Of course not.

In this case, the "entire picture" according to Warren, exists on prejudice alone?

No way this nurse will be voting for her now.

Where are you getting that Warren said prejudiced individuals represent the "entire picture"?

2 Votes
1 minute ago, MunoRN said:

Where are you getting that Warren said prejudiced individuals represent the "entire picture"?

“That doctors and nurses don't hear African American women's medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women (Elizabeth Warren, 2019).”

Notice. She didn't use the word "some," or a few. She painted us nurses, and also the MDs to push her claim.

12 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
On 4/28/2019 at 3:42 PM, KonichiwaRN said:

“That doctors and nurses don't hear African American women's medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women (Elizabeth Warren, 2019).”

Notice. She didn't use the word "some," or a few. She painted us nurses, and also the MDs to push her claim.

You quoted her stating that the "entire picture" exists on prejudice alone, it doesn't appear she actually said that, she specifically stated that there are other factors involved as well.

You're correct that she didn't use the word "some", she also didn't use the word "all" or otherwise imply that. You seem intent on criticizing her statement based on things she didn't actually say.

11 Votes
11 minutes ago, MunoRN said:

You seem intent on criticizing her statement based on things she didn't actually say.

“And there is a specific problem, as you rightly identified, for women of color who are three, four times more likely to die in childbirth,” Warren said. And here's the thing, even after we do the adjustments for income, for education, this is true across the board. This is true for well-educated African American women, for wealthy African American women, and the best studies that I'm seeing put it down to just one thing, prejudice,” she added (Fox News, 2019)."

Notice the phrase, "just one thing--and prejudice."

4 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
23 hours ago, KonichiwaRN said:

“And there is a specific problem, as you rightly identified, for women of color who are three, four times more likely to die in childbirth,” Warren said. And here's the thing, even after we do the adjustments for income, for education, this is true across the board. This is true for well-educated African American women, for wealthy African American women, and the best studies that I'm seeing put it down to just one thing, prejudice,” she added (Fox News, 2019)."

Notice the phrase, "just one thing--and prejudice."

She acknowledged the other known causes of outcome disparities and pointed out that even when we adjust for those known factors there is still a disparity, the evidence shows that this remaining factor is prejudice, which is a correct statement.

11 Votes

Prejudice. A subjective variable that cannot be quantified nor observed, being stated as the one singular thing that explains a outcome in the health industry.

According to Elizabeth Warren.

Nah, not buying it. Seriously, how dare she place us nurses (and even the MDs) as being prejudiced for our patients.

4 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
23 hours ago, KonichiwaRN said:

Prejudice. A subjective variable that cannot be quantified nor observed, being stated as the one singular thing that explains a outcome in the health industry.

According to Elizabeth Warren.

Nah, not buying it. Seriously, how dare she place us nurses (and even the MDs) as being prejudiced for our patients.

She specifically referenced that there are other known causes of disparity, but correctly pointed out that those causes don't explain the entire disparity, a portion of it is due to differences in how we treat patients based on race.

There are number of studies and meta-analyses on the subject, feel free to offer your criticisms of the evidence. But reflexively dismissing that this is a problem is a big part of the problem.

20 Votes
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