A staffer at Norristown pregnancy clinic is under fire after berating a working pregnant woman for asking for a doctor’s note off work, and the incident was all captured in a viral video.
The patient expressed extreme pain in the seventh month of pregnancy. Hence, she requested the doctor’s note. But in the TikTok video, the employee, who is white, is questioning the health concerns of the expecting mother, who is Black.
Commenters blasted the staffer while raising concern for the pregnant woman. The woman’s lawyer, Briana Lynn Pearson, stated in an email to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the interaction between the staffer and her client is an example of the systemic racism women of color face while seeking care in the medical industry. Pearson also told the news oultet her client is owed a public apology for being berated by the employee.
“Jill, an African American woman, went to the Philadelphia Pregnancy Center at seven months pregnant, in pain, seeking medical care and was met with abuse, neglect, and discriminatory treatment because she is African American,” Pearson told The Philadelphia Inquirer in an email. The lawyer did not provide Jill’s last name in the email.
“The American health care system has been complacent with the disparate treatment of women of color for far too long.”
Pearson said the staffer not only refused to grant Jill’s request for a doctor’s note, but she proceeded to call the police on her when the expecting woman asked for a second opinion, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
In the TikTok video, the staffer can be heard telling Jill taking time off from work due to her pregnancy would be considered “fraud.”
“What were you thinking about when you were pregnant — that you were not going to work?” the employee asked in the TikTok video. “Because I had three kids. I worked up until the second they were born.”
The Philly Pregnancy Center hasn’t responded to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s request for a statement on the matter.
Read more via The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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