Black Mother, Amber Isaac, Tweeted Concerns About Hospital Care During Childbirth Before Her Death

COVID-19 isn’t the only epidemic that should have you feeling alarmed. Across the globe, Black women continue to be mistreated, overlooked, and undervalued in the hallways of medical facilities and amongst medical professionals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are “three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.”

Described by some medical professionals as a public health and human rights emergency the increasing number of birth-related deaths amongst Black women are preventable.

Just like the death of Amber Isaac.

Isaac was a 26-year-old black, Puerto Rican New York mother-to-be who passed away on April 21st.

While news of her death began trending last week on social media, most major news outlets have failed to report on the young mother’s death which occurred at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. According to ESSENCE, Isaac’s death stemmed “from complications in delivering her son Elias who was born after midnight.” Isaac’s partner Bruce McIntyre, 28. In an interview about his partner’s death, McIntyre said that Isaac died less than four days after she’d tweeted about wanting to write an exposé on dealing with incompetent doctors.

Isaac, who died alone due to current measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus in hospitals, was pronounced dead due to complications with her cesarean section.

“All of this was 100% preventable. All of it,” McIntyre told The Guardian in an interview. “I feel like she would have got more attentive care if she was a white mother, to be completely honest with you.” According to The Guardian, McIntyre described Isaac’s pregnancy as being “riddled with neglect by rude and unprofessional staff at the Montefiore Medical Center,” who ignored Isaac even when she looked to them for help with her concerns during her final weeks of pregnancy.

Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, founder and president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative described Isaac to The Guardian as being a healthy woman who had done all that she was supposed to during her pregnancy. “And she’s not the only one. That’s the story of the black maternal mortality issue across the United States,” Dr. Crear-Perry said about Isaac.

According to the Guardian “In New York City, black women are nearly eight times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Latinas in the metropolis – especially Puerto Ricans – also face higher risks of life-threatening complications during childbirth.”

“Unfortunately, what I see when I look at Amber Rose’s case is a beautiful young woman who fell through our big, gaping hole of a healthcare system,” Crear-Perry told the outlet.

Isaac’s death has sparked an outcry over the unnecessary deaths of Black mothers online.

Friends and family of the late mother have created a GoFundMe page to help support Isaac’s son and to give her a funeral service.