CNN’s Bakari Sellers says bias in the health care system forced his family to make a critical decision — one he believes helped save his wife’s life hours after she had their twins.
Bakari joined ” Live” on Monday and talked about why they chose black doctors instead of white ones when he and his wife, Ellen, were expecting. It’s a fascinating story from his new book ‘My Vanishing Country.’
The former South Carolina state legislator didn’t mince words … saying, “the pain that black folk go through is not looked at with the same urgency as white folk in this country.” Case in point … the day his twins, Stokely and Sadie, were born in January 2019. A mere 5 hours after Ellen gave birth, she passed out after hemorrhaging 7 units of blood.
Check out the video … Bakari says it’s a known fact black women are 3 times more likely to die during childbirth than white women.
In his book, he explains the thought that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was a physician — who infamously wore blackface while in medical school — gave him pause about the kind of bias that exists, even in medicine.
That being said, Bakari says he struggled to get a single nurse to pay attention to his cries for help — and ultimately, Bakari and Ellen’s personal doctor returned to provide the care she needed to save her life.
