Women Share The Poor Treatment They’ve Received Because Of Mistreatment By Doctors: ‘I felt the cut from my c-section and screamed’

Recently, a post on social media sparked a conversation among Latinas online about the way women of color are treated by health care workers in the United States. A post by a user by the name of @krystinaArielle prompted comments that are truly so eyeopening.

“I keep telling you. It’s not just the police. Doctors treat us horribly and act as if we’re faking. After my c-section they sent me home with no pain medicine. Let me repeat: they cut open my stomach, ripped out a child, and sent me home with nothing,” a user by the name of Kristina Arielle wrote. ” I had to beg one of my nurses for pain medicine as she saw me in pain. My chart even had the time I was supposed to get it. She treated me as if I was a liar. It was a day after surgery and I was just getting feeling back in my legs. I felt everything. When I went back to have my scar inspected my PA looked shocked that it looked good. I go to the post-interview and the assistant goes “they were shocked your scar was so smooth. He usually does an awful staple job on brown women. Its probably because your husband is white.”

When we posted Arielle’s account on Instagram, users were quick to reply with their own experiences.

Some women say such treatment inspired them to get involved in medicine.

“Another reason I got into the medical field, I want to be able to help out by being a female Latina medical provider so that my patients can feel comfortable and safe along with being able to explain things in Spanish.”- ore_yana

Others said they’ve been prompted to avoid any providers who are not women of color.

“All of my medical providers are women of color. I am done with the white male medical patriarchy.” –bella_cin

One woman said that she almost did not survive giving birth.

“This happened to me, dilated at 10pm, gave birth at 3.59 am… left pushing for 6hours. Thank the universe that my daughter was born. Either one of us could have ‘not survived’ the birth.” – auletta.chiquita

Another shared how uncaring her providers were.

“They gave me tylenol to take at home after my c-section.” – _tweedle.deee

A doctor didn’t believe her when she said she didn’t have enough of her epidural.

“An old coworker of mine told me about her 2nd daughters birth. She told drs that the epidural didn’t work and she could feel everything. They didn’t believe her and had no choice but to continue through the labor. She felt everything and she even tore in the process. Against she told them she was in a lot of pain. Drs again didn’t believe her until she told them how many stitches she felt so far as they closed her wound. it wasn’t until then that she said the doctors went “oh shit” and gave her medication. Smh it’s a fucking shame and disgrace that it’s still happening.” – noturmamaciiita

One woman says her doctors during her birth were dismissive of her pain.

“This is true, when my mom had my sister, they put in the epidural wrong and it gave her a really bad headache ON TOP OF having a C-section and the doctors dismissed her pain.” – natalia.oregon

She lost her cousin to the doctors’ lack of care.

“My cousin had diabetes and got an infection after her C-section and died days later 😔 she should have been under medical care for much longer.” – tinnaafaceee

She had nonchalant treatment when she lost a baby.

“I lost a baby in February and I feel that more could be been done. I was just pretty much told I’m in labor and we just had to let it be. It was the most traumatizing moment in my life. I’m pregnant again and so scared to have the same nonchalant treatment I did before.” –maricela.diaz84

And this woman says she was left for dead by her doctors.

“I wish more people knew about this, I nearly died at birth because my doctor left me for dead after I was born with my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. My papa had to literally save me. Like seriously?! & my mom was bleeding out, the doctor declared me dead at birth and peaced out. It was just me, my mom & dad struggling to survive.” –curlsofroses

This horrifying moment had a woman experience the pain of her c-section.

“I felt the cut from my c-section and screamed even after I kept telling them I could still feel pain while they were prepping me. When my grito was out people ran all over and I was out under (higher risk) because they did not listen.” – jo_trains