Letters to the Editor: You shouldn’t need ‘cultural competency training’ to treat Black patients with dignity

To the editor: It was wrenching to read about the experiences of the two Black expectant mothers featured in this article being treated so callously by medical personnel, whose primary duty is to help patients in distress (“Delayed care to two pregnant Black women highlights maternal health disparities,” Dec. 5). These incidents reflect the systemic racism that adheres to the underbelly of many American institutions, including some hospitals.

In trying to show that it “got it” and would do better, one of the hospitals stated that it had “mandated cultural competency training for all labor and delivery staff.” But since when do medical personnel need “cultural competency training” to treat every patient with dignity and compassion? What part of Black culture needs to be understood to provide Black mothers with the same level of care and attention given to everyone else?

Instead, what is needed is training in eliminating or at least suppressing racial biases when dealing with nonwhite patients and lessons in common courtesy. The offending personnel involved here are fortunate that they will seemingly be let off the hook with attendance at training sessions and don’t have to face real accountability for the lifelong trauma they have caused the two women in question.

Agustin Medina, South Pasadena