{"id":252184,"date":"2021-09-01T16:42:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T21:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=252184"},"modified":"2021-08-31T18:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T23:35:54","slug":"black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

When the COVID-19 pandemic threw her world into disarray after she found herself pregnant with twins, Chrissy Sample was already facing an uphill battle as a Black woman seeking maternal care. Sadly, her experience \u2014 one all too commonly reported among pregnant Black women \u2014 became far more difficult than she could have imagined when she lost one of her precious babies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At age 34 and pregnant with twins, Sample was supposed to have her pregnancy closely monitored by her OB each week, and see a high-risk specialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine as well.\u00a0<\/span>But because of COVID restrictions, Sample\u2019s doctor scheduled her for checkups four to six weeks apart. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was just how she managed her patients,” Sample said in an <\/span>interview<\/span><\/a> with Motherly. Sample also could not get an appointment with the high-risk specialist until she was 25 weeks into her pregnancy. \u201cI felt like I needed my hand held for this pregnancy, but they never had time to see me,\u201d she said, according to <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Sample began experiencing excruciating pain in her lower abdomen and in her legs. She felt the pain consistently, standing or sitting, active or inactive. She knew something was wrong and repeatedly raised the issue with her physician whenever she saw him. Her doctor did not react with concern to her alarming symptoms, describing her pain as \u201crelative\u201d despite the red flag of the continuous, unusually debilitating nature of the pain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“You’re normalizing my pain. You’re basically telling me that me being in pain all the time is normal. ‘It’s relative.’ It’s not relative. It’s not normal. Something is wrong,\u201d Sample said of her doctor<\/span>. \u201cI shouldn’t feel this way. I couldn’t walk down the block or up a flight of steps. I’m in so much pain, I’m taking cabs home from work every day because I can’t bear to walk up a flight of steps to get on a train.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tragically, the <\/span>dismissal of pregnant women\u2019s pain<\/span><\/a> is not uncommon, and it is one that \u2014\u00a0for Black women in particular \u2014\u00a0too often has <\/span>fatal consequences<\/span><\/a>. One <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> suggests that lingering racial biases and misperceptions contribute to systematic undertreatment of the pain of Black Americans in relation to their white counterparts.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Woman dies during childbirth after doctors refused to examine her during COVID-19<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Sample finally did see her high-risk specialist, she received devastating news:\u00a0 the ultrasound revealed only one heartbeat. According to the doctor, one of the babies had died within the past three days. The doctor said that, had he seen her earlier, they likely would have been able to save the baby.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I said, ‘I just felt him kick, I just felt him. I don’t understand, how is this possible?’ I was inconsolable,” said Sample.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sample\u2019s lack of quality medical care is symptomatic of a larger problem. According to the <\/span>CDC<\/span><\/a>, pregnant Black women die from maternal complications at a rate three times<\/em> that of white women. Contributing factors cited by the organization are \u201cvariation in quality healthcare, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias.\u201d Additionally, as Motherly <\/span>notes<\/span><\/a>, Black babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthdays as white babies, and non-white women are more than 50% more likely to give birth prematurely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Sample\u2019s native New York City, pregnant Black women have even worse outcomes. According to The New York Times, Black women are between eight and 12 times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy complications. Black infants die at a <\/span>rate of three times<\/span><\/a> that of white infants \u2014 with many of these deaths likely preventable, as in Sample\u2019s case. Tragically, Black babies are also aborted at disproportionately high numbers<\/a> across the country compared to other races<\/a>, especially in NYC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sample initially blamed the tragedy on the pandemic and the strain it imposed on the health care system. But she began to realize that her race also played a role. \u201cFriends kept telling me that when you\u2019re a Black woman, you really have to find a way to get people to listen when you\u2019re in pain,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s scary. You end up feeling really alone. I would hate for this to happen to anyone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the COVID-19 pandemic threw her world into disarray after she found herself pregnant with twins, Chrissy Sample was already facing an uphill battle as a Black woman seeking maternal care. Sadly, her experience \u2014 one all too commonly reported among pregnant Black women \u2014 became far more difficult than she could have imagined when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":237692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[19,6327,1708,12389,10350,12390,12391,12388,574,298,6466],"yoast_head":"\nBlack mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GettyImages-1179938855-woman-sad.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1199\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Nicole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraNicoleLAN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Nicole\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Nicole\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/559f5a34d7a649412e9356345992a870\"},\"headline\":\"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\"},\"wordCount\":731,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"Black women\",\"CDC\",\"Chrissy Sample\",\"COVID-19\",\"high-risk obstetrics\",\"maternal complications\",\"mortality rate\",\"New York City\",\"pregnancy\",\"pregnancy complications\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Issues\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\",\"name\":\"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/559f5a34d7a649412e9356345992a870\",\"name\":\"Laura Nicole\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3016975d28209f6ac973c084b9345a77?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3016975d28209f6ac973c084b9345a77?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Nicole\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraNicoleLAN\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/laura-nicole\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died","description":"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died","og_description":"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1199,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/GettyImages-1179938855-woman-sad.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laura Nicole","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraNicoleLAN","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Nicole","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/"},"author":{"name":"Laura Nicole","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/559f5a34d7a649412e9356345992a870"},"headline":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died","datePublished":"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/"},"wordCount":731,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion","Black women","CDC","Chrissy Sample","COVID-19","high-risk obstetrics","maternal complications","mortality rate","New York City","pregnancy","pregnancy complications"],"articleSection":["Issues","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/","name":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-01T21:42:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T23:35:54+00:00","description":"Chrissy Sample lost one of her twins after doctors ignored her excruciating pain and pregnancy concerns, a common problem for Black women.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/black-mother-doctors-ignored-pregnancy-pain-died\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Black mother says doctors ignored her pregnancy pain, and one of her twins died"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/559f5a34d7a649412e9356345992a870","name":"Laura Nicole","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3016975d28209f6ac973c084b9345a77?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3016975d28209f6ac973c084b9345a77?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Nicole"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraNicoleLAN"],"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/laura-nicole\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/606"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252184"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252247,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252184\/revisions\/252247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}