A star of the reality show Married To Medicine, Dr. Jackie, professionally known as Dr. Jacqueline Walters, was recently seen on a Zoom clip with Dr. Heavenly, another of the show’s stars, stating that when it comes to medical care, Black women are more dramatic, (I assume more than her dainty white clientele) and complain to their doctors about pain more, alluding to them doing so in order to get off work.
.@BravoTV @iluvmariah, it is my sincere hope you will address Dr. Jackie's perpetuation of dangerous rhetoric/ stereotypes against Black women. The racial disparities in maternal mortality & morbidity are clear. We are dying. @VP & @abbydphillip recently highlighted this crisis. pic.twitter.com/pTC88NEGIQ
— T.L. G*l* (@LimitlessShe) December 19, 2023
The viral clip, of course, received backlash, with many Black women aghast at how a doctor, let alone a Black female doctor, could entertain such misogynoir, elitism and medical racism concerning her Black patients, even feeding into the stereotype that Black people are lazy, by stating they are complaining to get out of work.
Unfortunately, Dr. Jackie—as wrong as she is—is not alone in believing something so categorically stupid.
A 2016 study found that half of all medical trainees think that Black people have a higher tolerance for pain or that Black people literally have thicker skin than white people, with 40% believing both. In a country where Black women have an almost four times higher maternal death rate and are 21% more likely to have a C-section than white women, Black women’s pain is clearly not taken seriously enough. The history of gynecology in the United States is unnervingly woven with the pain that Black women are said not to experience. James Marion Sims is considered the “father of modern gynecology;” he was also a slave owner who conducted his experiments on enslaved Black women without the use of anesthesia because of the same widely held belief that Black pain either does not exist or the display of it is nothing but a histrionic performance.
Dr. Jackie defended herself by stating that the comments were from a video and were “taken out of context.” I’m not sure how specifically saying Black women are more dramatic can be good in any context, but maybe that’s just me. Or maybe it is not because, according to the Ladies on the Clock app, Dr. Jackie has a penchant for judging her patients. One user, sincerelymaxxdotcom, talks about how Dr. Jackie judged her for not being married and her partner not being able to make the first appointment.
The girls are on the clock app telling their Dr.Jackie stories and Chile this clean up gon require more than a publicist. These type of allegations gon have her in front of the medical board pic.twitter.com/riUr5BVbHr
— The Neighborhood Publicist (@nhoodpublicist) December 22, 2023
Dr. Jackie made her feel so uncomfortable that she never returned. Another TikTok user, AndreaBrad, was told that her child had a low birth weight and needed to be induced at 38 weeks. Subsequently, she labored for three days in what she describes as “excruciating pain” and stated that her son’s heartbeat fluctuated during the laboring process. After not being able to deliver vaginally, she was then ordered to have an emergency C-section. Her son was born at 6lbs 8oz, and now has developmental delays which she attributes to his traumatic birth. She also claimed that after ordering the induction, Dr. Jackie was nowhere to be found; she was probably out filming that day. Who knows?
Many Black women specifically seek out Black female OB/GYNs because of the health risks associated with pregnancy and deliveries being higher for them than women of other races. Many do so because they feel that a Black female doctor might be more understanding and willing to listen to their concerns, but even with Black medical staff, that is not always the case. I have also tried to exclusively go to Black female OB/GYNs, with varied success. On one particular visit, I went in to get a panel of testing. Before she even tested me, the doctor chided me for having unprotected sex while reminding me, during the same visit, that my biological clock was ticking.
I am not a medical professional, nor currently a mother, but I was always under the impression that babies are usually conceived through bumping uglies, raw.
That was the last time I saw her, because how are you going to judge me for having unprotected sex also while judging me for not having unprotected sex? Additionally, isn’t unprotected sex how YOU stay in business? The judgment from someone who then peers down into my vagina just feels louder. Earlier this year, another Black OB/GYN, Tracey St. Julian, accidentally killed her patient’s baby by essentially using excessive force while attempting a delivery vaginally. Not only do Black mothers have the highest rate of maternal death, but Black babies have the highest rate of infant mortality. While economic status does affect the outcomes of maternal and infant mortality, that is not always the case.
Dr. Jackie has been an issue and now we ALLL know it. How do you build a brand off of understanding and listening to black women…all the while you feel the same way as the Doctors we are scared of. #Married2med pic.twitter.com/wDAcTp5tMc
— Elle Murasaki (@itsellemurasaki) December 20, 2023
Serena Williams recounts her harrowing tale of almost bleeding to death during delivery because her pain was not believed. The daughter-in-law of Judge Hatchett, Kira Johnson, also died shortly after delivering her second son. Kira was not Dr. Jackie’s patient but the fatphobic doctor would have loved to know that Kira was in perfect health and even a marathon runner. After discovering blood in her catheter, Kira was left hemorrhaging for ten hours before finally going into a surgery that she did not make it out of. Dr. Jackie stated that she became a doctor because she saw a lack of diversity in the medical staff, but Dr. Jackie, diversity is not just about a look—it is also about a mindset, and if you believe that Black women complain too much, then you are not the diversity you think you represent.
Black women were the guinea pigs of modern gynecology, and it seems that we still are today.
