Another video has gone viral of a Black woman being ignored at a hospital while in labor, this time in Indiana.
Mercedes Wells was sent away from Franciscan Health Crown Point Hospital in Crown Point and was told to come back when she was in active labor. Then, eight minutes into driving home with her husband, she gave birth on the side of the road.
In an interview with ABC 7 Chicago, Wells’ sister-in-law, Cherise Thompson, described the incident as told to her. She said that Wells tried to get hospital workers to understand that she was moments from delivering her baby.
“Mercedes begged her. She really begged her, she said I can feel it, I’m in active labor. She just ignored her.”
Wells’ husband, Leon Wells, documented what happened to his wife and posted the videos on social media. He even had footage of Wells in their truck holding the just-delivered baby.
“My wife gave birth 8 minutes later I delivered our baby in the truck! After being discharged from the hospital! First Texas now North West Indiana!! Justice will be served!! Racism is REAL,” he wrote on Facebook.
The CEO of Franciscan Health Crown Point Hospital, Raymond Grady, published a statement calling the video of Wells “troubling,” and said the hospital is investigating the incident.
“The video and the comments it has generated are deeply troubling, and we understand the concern this has raised. The video is just one part of the information we are reviewing as part of a thorough investigation into this alleged incident.”
This comes just a few days after a different video went viral of a Black woman named Karrie Jones being ignored while in labor at a hospital in Mesquite, Texas. According to Jones’ mother, she was kept in the waiting room for more than 30 minutes even though her baby arrived just 12 minutes later.
Jones is writhing in a hospital wheelchair while a white nurse continues her step-by-step admission routine, unmoved. Jones’ mother, Kash, pleads with the nurse, asking if her daughter will have to give birth in a chair.
In the TikTok video, posted by Jones’ mother, she writes in the caption that the nurse cares more about “paperwork over life.”
These videos not only infuriate viewers but are also painful reminders that Black maternal health is taken less seriously by the healthcare industry, and those disparities put Black mothers at high risk during pregnancy. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate, and are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, according to the CDC.
