Topline
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center—one of the largest hospitals in Los Angeles—is facing a federal civil rights investigation over its treatment of Black mothers, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Thursday, as Black women nationwide continue to face above-average maternal mortality rates.
Charles Johnson, center, sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after his wife died from complications at … [+]
Key Facts
HHS officials will be conducting an investigation into the Los Angeles-based medical group, the agency said in a statement to Forbes this week.
The civil rights probe comes after the 2016 death of Kira Dixon Johnson, a Black woman who died from internal bleeding following a c-section at Cedars-Sinai, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In a 2022 lawsuit against the hospital that has since been settled, Johnson’s husband Charles Johnson IV alleged his wife’s race played a role in her treatment and resulted in her death while giving birth to their second son.
In a letter obtained by The Los Angeles Times, HHS officials told Johnson that based on the allegations of Black women receiving a lower standard of care during labor at the center, as well as Cedars-Sinai federal funding status, the government would be reviewing the hospital’s compliance with civil rights laws.
HHS told Forbes in a statement: “Maternal health is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and one in which the HHS Office for Civil Rights is working on around the country to ensure equity and equality in health care.”
In response to the investigation, Cedars-Sinai told Forbes it has “long been concerned” with Black maternal health disparities, and is continuing to work towards Black birth equity.
Key Background
The lawsuits filed by Johnson reportedly stated he noticed his wife Kira losing blood following a cesarean delivery at the hospital. Once Johnson made her doctor aware of the blood draining, a surgical emergency CT scan was ordered. However, the scan was allegedly never performed, according to the lawsuits cited by the Times, and doctors found three liters of blood in her abdomen when she went in for surgery, leading to her death from hemorrhagic shock. Johnson’s suits alleged Kira’s civil rights were violated, and that her race played a role in the healthcare she received. What he saw as the avoidable death of his wife while giving birth is an all-too familiar story for many Black mothers, who in 2021 faced 2.6 times the rate of maternal mortality compared to white women, according to the CDC. The CDC attributes this disparity to several factors, including implicit bias, structural racism, and a variation in the quality of healthcare provided to Black patients. One key issue Black mothers face is the false belief by some healthcare workers that Black patients have higher pain tolerances than white ones—in a 2020 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, nearly half of white medical students and residents surveyed admitted to perceiving Blacks as feeling less pain than whites. Regardless of education, the pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women with a college degree is still 1.6 times higher than that of a white woman with less than a high school degree, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Contra
In response to the probe, Cedars-Sinai told Forbes the hospital has “long been concerned with national disparities in Black maternal health”, and said the hospital conducts annual unconscious bias training for every employee and physician at the hospital. The medical group also pointed to its partnerships with advocacy organizations such as Cherished Futures for Black Moms & Babies and the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, as well as its clinical studies researching Black maternal health, and distribution of over $2.2 million in grants to LA-based nonprofits that seek to improve Black maternal health.
Big Number
$5.3 billion— that’s how much Cedars-Sinai made in total revenue for 2022, according to estimates by Forbes.
Further Reading
Cedars-Sinai faces federal civil rights investigation over treatment of Black mothers (The Los Angeles Times)
Maternal Deaths Spiked In 2021—Particularly Among Black Women—As U.S. Maintains Deadly Reputation For Pregnancy And Childbirth (Forbes)
Black Maternal Death Rates Continue To Increase: What Workplaces Can Do To Support Black Mothers (Forbes)