Boston Hospital Rejects Protecting Children Over ‘Structural Racism’
Protecting children and the elderly should far outweigh any misguided woke initiatives pushed by elites. But a Massachusetts hospital recently announced it will abandon protecting the most vulnerable in the name of combating “racism.”
Mass General Brigham declared, “As part of our United Against Racism effort to achieve health equity for patients and communities across our system, we have prioritized health conditions with the greatest racial disparities in outcomes.”
The nonprofit system said these disparities “may unwittingly perpetuate structural racism” — whatever that is.
The Boston hospital continued, “Substance use disorder is a condition with significant racial and ethnic inequities, especially in the context of pregnancy.” It lamented that Black “pregnant people” — not mothers — are reported to child welfare systems more than White “pregnant people.”
The system, therefore, will avoid reporting drug abuse by pregnant women based on race.
Mass General Brigham claimed withholding evidence of mistreatment of unborn children “reflects an emerging consensus, based on sound science.”
Under its new policy, there will no longer be mandatory filings with child welfare agencies when a pregnant mother uses drugs. The hospital determined that such actions “disproportionately impact patients from historically marginalized populations.”
Allison Bryant is Mass General Brigham’s associate chief health equity officer. She said reports will now be made after the birth of a child “only if there is reasonable cause to believe that the infant is suffering or at imminent risk of suffering physical or emotional injury.”
Merely exposing a baby to harmful and illegal drugs is no longer a sufficient reason to notify authorities.
Bryant added, “The process allowed us to turn our lens inward to understand our own contributions to stigma and inequity and strive to fix them.”
Dr. Sarah Wakeman is the senior medical director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham. She said the goal is to “eliminate racial inequities and drop barriers to treatment.”
Not protect the precious and defenseless children from harmful and potentially deadly substances. No, the focus must be on making sure that the numbers balance and woke equity goals are the overriding mission of medical care.
