Everything was pointing to signs
that she was having a great
pregnancy and we were expecting
another very healthy baby boy.
The last thing I told her
was that I loved her.
Last thing I told care is I loved it.
When they told me that her heart
stopped, that was all I heard.
I said wait? At nights thinking man,
like maybe I should have grabbed somebody
by their car, right? Maybe I should
have turned the table over right? Would
that have made a difference?
I definitely. Thought
about the whole issue of I didn't
want to be saved not only as
angry but angry black man, right?
I'm not the smallest guy in the world.
And. What that would mean and how we
would be perceived and how we would be.
Treated as a result of that
perception when this first happened,
I would get the question a lot.
Well, do you think it was
because she was black?
You think it would be different if Kira?
Was White was different color?
And the way
I answer that question is.
The simple fact that you have to
ask that question is a problem.
The only thing that we conclude
with any kind of reasonable
certainty is that the experience
of being black in America is so
fundamentally different from the
experience of being white in America
that it translates to health outcomes.
Black women are three to four
times more likely to die.
Than white women in the United
States and the only difference
is the color of 1 skin.
All of this is racism.
It's various types of racism.
It's not something inherent in black women.
Genetics isn't a part of it.
They go to all their prenatal appointments.
They are in good condition when
they arrive at the delivery room
and then they experience racial
discrimination by medical professionals.
The problem with that is often
stereotypes about culture.
Come into the training.
It's like dear that.
Black people have different
kinds of bodies than other human
beings has continued in medical
practice to this very day.
For example,
there's a long line of studies
that show that black patients
are undertreated for pain.
Black people have thicker skin,
so don't feel pain as much as black.
People are more likely to become addicted
to drugs and therefore shouldn't be
prescribed opioid pain treatments.
These stereotypes are significant.
And prevalent.
There definitely are genetic differences
that we are taught in medical school that
you need to know when you're trying to
take care of a patient of a specific race.
To know what's more common in that race.
I'm Indian, we're prone to cardiovascular
disease if I recommend a colonoscopy
to an African American person at 45,
does that make me racist? I don't think so.
It's actually a better health care, right?
If you know that in this race these
things are more common than in this race.
And being overweight and obese is
fraught with other medical complications.
Diabetes, high blood pressure,
which increase your risk of delivery
complications, increase your risk
of postpartum complications.
We think that more than half of all
pregnancy related deaths are preventable,
and clearly the deaths that
we see from the old-fashioned
causes, particularly hemorrhage.
We we know what to do.
Shortly after he came out,
I remember feeling extremely dizzy.
It got extremely bright and I saw
like stars everywhere and I just
remember them placing him on me.
And I just told him like I can't move.