Racism and Laziness killed Nichelle Nichols
The doctors saw an elderly black woman, and decided they couldn't be bothered to do their jobs.
She attended the emergency room with shortness of breath, and needed a cardiac examination.
Nothing fancy, or out there. Just the standard tests everyone is meant to gets for shortness of breath.
The sort that starts with an asking a few questions, and seeing if your skin is dusky.
Checking your blood pressure.
Then using a stethoscope to check how your heart sounds.
And finally moves on to a EKG, with the little stickers over your chest.
You're probably had all of these checks.
You've probably also been sent for a chest X-ray after just to be sure, right?
Nichelle didn't get any of this extreme basic care. She was stuck in a bed in a ward; but not seen by anyone.
And then they discharged her to a non medical facility the next morning. Claiming this woman the didn't check was fine.
She died just seven hours later.
If we are lucky we will all get old. And with that comes helplessness, and and not being listened to. We could all be in Nichelle's position.
Fame was not enough to guarantee her a very low level of care.
You cannot guarantee your own privilege will keep you safe in hospital, as you age.
This could be any of us is what I'm trying to explain.
And there's probably nothing that would have made these gits listen to her...
But I wanted to give some general advice for others below:
Don't let anyone attend hospital alone. Lone patients get ignored and forgotten.
If you're are part of group with less privilege, like you're black; try to buddy up with someone with more privilege.
Women get ignored a lot. Especially older or disabled women get ignored. Taking a male friend with, who knows he's job is repeat the information you give, or requests you have; can be a literal life saver.
Chase up information. If you were told you'd go have Y test done at 8am, and it now 12pm; stop a nurse and ask what is happening.
That goes doubly for the Dr. You might only see them once per day. Don't let them forget to turn up to see you on ward rounds.
If you can Google you're hospital's uniforms so you're asking the right person. Ward sisters/ ward manages are usually a good bet.
Use the halo effect if you can manage it. Hospital staff give better care, and treatment; to people who appear less messily sick. 🙄If you can attend the hospitas dressed clean and tidy, I'd recommend doing so.
None of these can really guard against this though. But it might help you tweak the odds at bit.
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