Some of you are old enough to remember Marvin Gaye’s fervent plea in his song “Save the Children”: “And if you want to love, you got to save the babies.” Yes, and we must save the Black mothers giving birth to the babies as we learn of the growing racial disparity in deaths here in the city.
Are the deaths of two Black women at Woodhull Hospital anomalies or more evidence of a maternal health system in need of a probing investigation and repair?
Three years ago, Sha-Asia Semple, a first-time mother, died of a botched epidural by the same Woodhull anesthesiologist involved in a series of such tragedies. Last year, Christine Fields, 30, died after giving birth, which prompted the New York State Department of Health to begin pulling medical files and interviewing doctors and nurses.
This is an ongoing investigation, but one thing is patently clear: Black women are nine times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white women in the city, which is much worse than the national disparity.
There is nothing new about this disparity—for years, Black maternal mortality has been a concern, even for healthy women such as the U.S. Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie, 32, who died from complications of childbirth last year.
Several recent studies have attempted to answer why maternal mortality is especially high among Black women. One report from Yale Medicine found there were 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births among Black women in 2021. According to the study, there are several contributing factors, including age—Black women tend to be older, overt and implicit bias from healthcare providers, and preexisting chronic health conditions.
Perhaps it is this amalgam of factors that has made Woodhull an epicenter of maternal mortality. Whatever the case, having it so close to our households here in the city sounds an alarm that has to be answered immediately.
Yes, Marvin, to some extent, we heeded your call to save the babies. Now we need to hear your clarion call for the mothers.