Black Women vs. The Healthcare System

A critical analysis of how Black women navigate the complexities of a medical institution that has not been designed to meet their needs.

Indigo Curated Writer:

INVISIBLE VISITS

Black Middle-Class Women in the American Healthcare System by Tina K. Sacks

The United States spends one-fifth of its resources funding healthcare—yet the system is dogged by persistent and pernicious inequalities in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities and women. In this country a Black women is 22 percent more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman, 71 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer, and 243 percent more likely to die following child birth. Invisible Visits presents a critical and nuanced analysis of how middle-class Black women navigate the complexities of dealing with a medical institution that has not been designed to meet their needs. Critically, the book challenges the widely accept myth that structural discrimination only affects poor racial minorities. In so doing, the book expands our collective understanding of how Black middle-class women are treated when they go to the doctor, why they continue to face profound challenges securing proper medical care, and what lengths they must go to to fight for effective treatment.

About the Author

Tina K. Sacks, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies racial and gender inequities in healthcare settings, social determinants of health, and poverty and inequality. Professor Sacks' work has been published in Race and Social Problems, Health Affairs, and MSNBC News. Professor Sacks also collaborates with the photographer and filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz on documentary film projects about issues affecting Black and Latino communities in the US and abroad. Their films have appeared in the Tribeca, AFI, and LA International Film Festivals, among others. Their work has also been published in The New Yorker and The Atlantic.Black Middle-Class Women in the American Healthcare System

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