'I was failed because I wasn't seen as an individual': Black mother shares maternity failure

ITV News

5 days ago

A black mother of two has told ITV News that she was failed by her doctors during her first birth - an experience she believes put her life in danger.
Sarah Tade, 34, who is also a GP clinician, gave birth to her first son Micah in 2022, but has since shared the trauma she experienced during labour.
She described how her cries of pain were ignored by healthcare professionals and told ITV News she "wasn't seen as an individual".
Ms Tade believes her race and gender contributed to her mistreatment.
"My voice was ignored. If you recognise someone as an individual, you listen to their voice."
Sarah Tade gave birth to her first son Micah in 2022, but said she was ignored during labour
This comes as new data reveals that half of Black women face barriers in maternity care.
The charity Five X More surveyed more than 1,100 Black women and found 28% reported discrimination during maternity care. 25% believe this is down to racial prejudice. 45% say they raised concerns during labour or birth; of these 49% felt their concerns were not properly addressed.
After a failed labour induction, Ms Tade's waters broke 'spontaneously' whilst still in hospital.
She says that's when it all went wrong.
The battle was not giving birth but convincing her clinicians that she was, in fact, in labour.
'I asked for pain relief, the one that was prescribed, and it wasn't given to me. I was told you already had it, even though that was four hours ago, so there was literally nothing in my system by the time it was the onset of labour.
'As the pain got worse, I wasn't coping. I said I need my epidural please, because this was a part of my birth plan. Again, that was ignored.'
Ms Tade said there was "no empathy" for her and that she was not only not given medication for her pain, but also was taken off gas and air.
"How can you leave a pregnant woman going into labour in pain? It was horrendous.'
Ms Tade said it only after she alerted them to the fact that she is a qualified GP that her treatment changed
When she felt her water breaking, she told ITV News: 'I was again dismissed and not examined and told it was moisture. As a clinician, I began to grow very concerned.'
It was only after she alerted them to the fact that she is a qualified GP that her treatment changed.
'When women say they are in pain, unfortunately, all of the data shows they are not believed. This isn't just in maternal health but throughout medicine.
In my case, race... so now I'm a Black woman, which puts me further down the pecking order of being listened to and being believed.'
Michelle Peter, co-author of the Five X More report, said: 'We also see this element of racism, whether it's overt and explicit or more subtle and implicit and structural in nature.
'It's this additional unique experience that Black women face, this racialisation of their care, the racist comments that are explicitly made sometimes.
'It makes it really difficult for us to deny any racial aspect of their care.'
She goes on to give examples of explicit comments made to some of the women she's spoken to – including one who was told 'thank goodness you got that monkey out of you.'