The US Medical system still haunted by history

     

Occasionally I watch short documentaries which gives me an insight of a topic which I then go on to watch then analyse in more depth. This documentary has allowed me in a short space of time see how the generation of slaves were affected especially black women and this 

 is currently still an on going issue. We begin to see how the US government is trying to marginalise ethnic minority’s into a smaller population and this blog will highlight how they have suffered. 

James Marion Sims was an American who was known for his “great efforts” in American surgery which aided health care  and surgery on a national scale.He was referred to as to the father of modern gynecology. He developed surgical techniques in his mind “ better health and to reproductive health “. He created the vagial spectrum, which is used by gynaecologist for examination , he pioneered the surgical repair which assisted with complications with child birth. 

Some may say that It’s exponential that Mr Sims had invented equipment surrounding fertility however all it  experimented on enslaved women. The National Vital Statistics 2015 show infant deaths, life expectancy and maternal mortality tremendous differentiation E.G black women are 3-4 times more likely to face death in connection to child birth than white women .This traces back to doctors experiments E.G. Sims has created a long term issue of  infertility for black women. Harriet Washington who has written a book on The dark history of medical experiments on black America’s is in this documentary giving her facts and opinion .

It’s a proven that your environment has huge contribution to your healthcare . Living in a deprived area would limit you to worse doctors , an unhealthy diet as you’re unable to afford organic foods can cause also contribute to your health cate , air pollution can slowly lead into respiratory diseases such as emphysema . Studies show that ethnic minorities get the worse health care than the White majorities regardless of your income and situation .Harriet Washington believes that ethnic minorities have been abused by the health system for so long it and she quote “It is better for things to be done yourself as the healthcare cannot be trusted” .

When slavery had first begun the slaves were used as the main source of income , in 1807 importations of slaves were abolished which pushed black women to have more children to bread more slsves. Tomas Jefferson “ I consider a women who brings a child every two years as more profitable than  the best man on the farm “. In 1830 when the experiments  on black women started with the beginning of the C sections , overoramy and removal of the ovary performed . Sims began to experiment on a  17 year old slave called Enarka. He performed 30 operations on her and on 11 other female slaves . Pictures painted made it look as the women weren’t tortured during the surgery, when anaesthetic wasn’t even being given to the slaves as his theory was black people don’t feel pain or anxiety .Doctors such as Sims can be compared to the doctor Frankenstein but it wasn’t seen as wrong back then , using black bodies for troubling experience was the norm 

In 1900 a group of immigrants were sent to the US which created the birth of the American new genius movement , one of there agendas was to remove the deprived and disabled . Margaret Sanger who was the founder of planned parenthood created the Negro  project which pushed birth control on the black south . Procedures which made black women infertile was becoming normalised . A contraception pill names Norplant in  1990 which was selectively marketed to black teenagers was introduced . Those involved in the KKK movement offered young black females to take Norplant with an incentive of $100 ,questions were asked why Norplant was so Forced onto ethnic miniortiy group  and if this has had a long term effect which would create social engineering. 

Thanks for reading you can check out this documentary on YouTube - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IfYRzxeMdGs