“We Weren’t Heard Until It Was Too Late”: Navigating Inequities in Healthcare as Black Women in the U.S.

Undergraduate Review Volume 19 Article 14 2025 “We Weren’t Heard Until It Was Too Late”: Navigating Inequities in Healthcare as Black Women in the U.S. Kieran Doherty Darlene Alcindor Lilyanna Bain Follow this and additional works at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev Recommended Citation Doherty, Kieran; Alcindor, Darlene; and Bain, Lilyanna (2025). “We Weren’t Heard Until It Was Too Late”: Navigating Inequities in Healthcare as Black Women in the U.S.. Undergraduate Review, 19, 139-149. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol19/iss1/14 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Copyright © 2025 Kieran Doherty, Darlene Alcindor, and Lilyanna Bain COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES “We Weren’t Heard Until It Was Too Late”: Navigating Inequities in Healthcare as Black Women in the U.S. Kieran Doherty, Darlene Alcindor, and Lilyanna Bain Abstract This qualitative research project investigates the lived experiences of Black women navigating the U.S. healthcare system. Through semi-structured interviews with participants of different socioeconomic backgrounds, geographic locations, and reproductive histories, we identified systemic and interpersonal dynamics that perpetuate disparities in healthcare. The major themes discovered through our research include: Medical Dismissal Gaslighting of pain and other concerns, Financial & Structural Barriers due to cost and access to quality healthcare, the value of Cultural Concordance & Representation, Self-Advocacy as a survival tactic and the impact of Patient-Centered Experiences. The findings reveal that while some participants reported positive experiences, most described navigating racism, neglect, and the emotional toll of invisibility. Our research approach heightens the complexity of existing statistical data by focusing on the lived experiences for Black women, advocating for racial equity and person-centered care policies. Introduction Healthcare disparities continue to be a serious problem in the United States. This is especially true for women of color, who consistently experience some of the worst health outcomes compared to other demographic groups. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), they report that “the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births and was significantly higher than rates for White, Hispanic, and Asian women.” Additionally, a 2021 study by Chinn et al. found that non-Hispanic Black women have a shorter life expectancy by three years compared to white women, and their children have twice the infant mortality rate. These disparities showcase long-standing inequities in access to quality healthcare and are not solely the result of individual bias—they reveal the persistence of structural racism and systemic neglect embedded within healthcare systems. Brailey and Slatton (2024) highlight the presence of racism in healthcare practices that lead to increased occurrences of preventable deaths and poor health outcomes for Black mothers. Their qualitative analysis focuses on the experiences shared by women who feel disbelieved, unheard, unseen or stereotyped while seeking help during the most helpless moments in their lives. Currie (2020) connects these inequalities to challenges experienced early in life, such as inadequate access to prenatal care, pollution exposure, and food insecurities—issues that have carried on through generations. These inequities were further magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Currie (2020) argues disproportionately harmed marginalized comBRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY | 139 COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES munities, particularly the Black population, who faced significantly higher hospitalization and mortality rates. In this research, Black women's experiences within the U.S. healthcare system were studied by investigating their perspectives and interactions in healthcare environments that reflect larger racial and gender disparities within society. The research aimed to answer the following questions: • What are the personal experiences of Black women regarding quality of and access to healthcare? • How do Black women perceive and respond to bias, discrimination, or neglect in healthcare environments? • How do socioeconomic status, education, and geographic location shape their healthcare experiences? • What coping tools and support networks do Black women use to navigate the healthcare system? Quantitative data is useful for finding disparities but falls short in capturing the situational complexity experienced by women impacted by these issues. To address this limitation and provide a deeper understanding of the consequences of healthcare neglect, this qualitative research study uses semi-structured interviews to gather and analyze data. This method highlights the personal stories and lived experiences of Black women, offering vital insights into the human impact of systemic neglect. Centering their voices contributes meaningfully to ongoing discussions about justice, institutional accountability, reproductive equity, and the urgent need for reform within healthcare systems. Background In recent years, increased national attention has been given to the pervasive issue of systemic racism within the U.S. healthcare system. Research by Brailey and Slatton (2024) showcases how Black women, in particular, continue to report frequent experiences of 140 | THE UNDERGRADUATE REVIEW 2025 being stereotyped, dismissed, or mistreated by medical professionals. These interactions are not merely inconvenient or emotionally distressing—they often lead to misdiagnoses, delayed treatments, and, in some cases, preventable deaths. Currie (2020) further emphasizes that structural factors such as environmental racism, limited access to prenatal and preventative care, and the compounding effects of toxic stress and poverty significantly contribute to healthcare disparities affecting Black communities. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare many of these inequalities, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations. For Black women, whose health outcomes were already compromised by systemic bias, the pandemic exacerbated preexisting vulnerabilities. Increased maternal mortality rates, reduced access to reproductive care, and heightened mental health challenges during this period have prompted renewed urgency to address longstanding inequities in healthcare delivery. This context highlights the importance of documenting and analyzing lived experiences. While quantitative data can illustrate broad patterns of disparity, it often fails to capture the emotional toll and complex interpersonal dynamics that Black women encounter in clinical settings. Qualitative approaches, particularly those centered on narrative and thematic analysis, offer a more nuanced understanding of how (...truncated)