Regularly, Black women come out and share their experiences of medical bias and racism.
Now, model and actress Mary Katherine has come forward with her own horror story.
In a TikTok, the Florida native fully detailed the birth trauma she endured while 35 weeks pregnant when she was sent to the hospital due to excruciating pain.
When she was once asked by a nurse to describe her pain, she cried as she responded.
Mary Katherine says that her tears and screams of feeling like she was “dying” were allegedly met with the nurse’s response of “shut up” because she was typing.
Furthermore, the then-expectant mother claimed the nurse said that she would have to leave the room.
To make matters even worse, Mary Katherine shared that the nurse assumed that she was on drugs and was faking her pain to get them. Despite stating that she had never been on drugs, the nurse went on to order a drug screen instead of telling the doctor about the pain she was in.
The order of events: “The doctor comes in and says that they need to do an urgent C-section to get the baby out because the baby’s heart rate is decelerating,” she said, according to the TikTok video. “The nurse looks at the drug screen results and sees that they’re negative and tells [me] in front of the doctor that [I] need to ‘Just tell them what kind of drugs [I’m] on’ so that they can help [my] baby.”
“Then, [I] go into the operating room and it takes them forever to do [my] spinal. When [I] lay down [I] lose consciousness within three minutes because [I] start going into a grand mal seizure. They determine that [my] blood pressure was 220 over 180 and [I] actually clearly had eclampsia.”
Following the diagnosis, Mary Katherine says she and the baby had to be resuscitated. Then, her child was airlifted to another hospital for better care, according to the TikTok video.
But wait, there’s more.
When she arrived at the hospital to see her child, she claims that she was met by a social worker because the hospital “lied” and said that she was on drugs. Additionally, she alleges that the hospital falsely claimed she was HIV positive.
The aftermath: In a follow-up TikTok, Mary Katherine shared that she sued and won two lawsuits against the hospital.
@iamkeighpowerI will be posting a more in depth story either tonight or tomorrow. Honestly I still don’t get through the story without crying so please give me a moment!♬ original sound – Mary Katherine
Does the nurse still have her job? The nurse lost her job within two to three weeks of Mary Katherine’s childbirth, but it allegedly had nothing to do with her lawsuit. Her being fired came after the doctor filed a formal complaint against the nurse for gross negligence.
Mary Katherine shares about her miracle baby:
@iamkeighpower #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound – Mary Katherine
