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Stop and Search: can we continue to justify the use of this police power?
Maeve Keenan
As a firm, we have had many discussions about Black Lives Matter and how we can make a difference to the movement. In the third blog in our series, Simran looks at the higher percentage of BAME patients who are more likely to die as a result of contracting COVID-19 than patients from a white British background. She explores the poorer experience BAME people have within the healthcare system where inequality is due to long-standing issues around unconscious bias and the clinical care provided to BAME patients more generally.
Recent events around the globe have made the reality of racial inequality in society feature at the forefront of media coverage, political discussion and social consciousness, but the effect of this inequality has been felt by those in the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community long before this. It has become clear that there is a lot of work to be done to address these inequalities in every aspect of society and Covid-19 has demonstrated that significant progress must be made in the healthcare sector to protect patients and healthcare workers from a BAME background.
A report published by Public Health England in June 2020 found that BAME patients were between 10% and 50% more likely to die as a result of contracting Covid-19 than patients from a white British background. This is an alarmingly high rate and has attracted (some) media attention as a result.
Part of this disparity could be impacted -by other socioeconomic factors relevant to Covid-19 such as the larger average household size of BAME families compared with white families. However, those socioeconomic factors do not in themselves explain the significantly higher fatality rate for BAME patients. One must therefore question whether the material issue again falls back to the poorer experience BAME people have within the healthcare system. It appears that much of this inequality is due to other long-standing issues around unconscious bias and the clinical care provided to BAME patients more generally.
For example, it has been clear for some time that there are stark racial inequalities in the statistics around BAME women suffering fatal complications during childbirth when compared with their white counterparts. Reports produced by MBRRACE-UK since 2014 have found that black women are five times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. Asian women and women of mixed ethnicity are two and three times more likely respectively to suffer fatal complications during childbirth than white women.
Crucially, a report produced by Nuffield Department of Population Health and the University of Oxford suggest that the quality of maternity care provided to BAME mothers could have contributed to these statistics. The report found that BAME mothers experienced longer hospital stays, were less likely to receive pain relief during labour and received fewer home visits from midwives than white women.
Further, accounts provided by midwives and nursing staff have reported incidents of unconscious bias. This includes occasions where white medical staff have commented on a BAME patient’s pain threshold being relative to their ethnicity or assumed that BAME patients lack English skills and as such, cannot make informed decisions in relation to their medical care. One must question whether an ability to speak English, if that is indeed a factor rather than a presumption, is a pre-requisite to being able to communicate pain or make assisted decisions about healthcare.
The issue around the perception of BAME patients and how this impacts the medical care they receive is also reflected in the story of Serena Williams’ experience during childbirth when she suffered serious complications as a result of a pulmonary embolism (a potentially life-threatening condition which involves a blocked blood vessel in a patient’s lungs). Serena Williams has stated that after delivering her child, she raised concerns regarding experiencing shortness of breath, which she knew was a symptom of a pulmonary embolism as she had experienced this condition as part of her medical history. However, she was perceived as being ‘confused’ due to her pain medication even though she had clearly stated that she knew she required a CT scan with contrast and a blood thinner. It was only after Serena Williams repeated this a number of times that a CT scan with contrast was completed, confirming that she had several blood clots in her lungs, and she was subsequently provided with blood thinners.
There is no question that Serena Williams is one of the most accomplished athletes in the world and a global icon. Yet, she was forced to advocate for herself repeatedly before her concerns were viewed as legitimate and acted on by her medical team. Despite her status, Serena Williams almost fell victim to the same issues that black women face within the healthcare sector and which lead to dangerous or life-threatening pregnancy-related complications.
This raises two questions. Firstly, how likely are other patients of a BAME background to have their concerns listened to and acted on appropriately? And secondly, how far does this issue contribute to the disproportionately high fatality rate of BAME patients?
Listening to a patient is one of the fundamental requirements of adequately diagnosing, treating and caring for them. The lessons learned from Covid-19 must therefore also include a wider discussion around the issue of racial inequalities in the healthcare setting and unconscious bias in diagnosis and treatment to ensure that the disproportionate risk to patients from a BAME background is addressed and rectified.
Our black lives matter / BAME Blog series
As a firm, we have had many discussions about Black Lives Matter and how we can make a difference to the movement. We wanted to do more than just put out a statement of support, we wanted to take substantive action to address the inequalities faced by Black people and other ethnic minorities. Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing a series of blogs from our varying practice areas highlighting what we are doing, how you can make a difference and shining a light on the issues.
Our Diversity and Inclusion group is working hard with Human Resources and the Management Team to effect change through methods such as training and reviewing recruitment practices. We have implemented a lot of change but we recognise we have more to do and we are always looking to make improvements as a firm. We all have respective roles to play in advocating for issues of inequality and we hope our blogs give you some inspiration as to how you can make a change.
Diversity Matters Team
Latest blogs & news
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"Oh, but, is there much to say?"
That's when I realised that drag queens, for many, are more synonymous with big hair and lip-syncing pop hits rather than political consciousness and activism. You can certainly understand the reason for this - we have been totally spoiled in recent years with the explosion of Ru Paul’s Drag Race around the world - the make-up, talents and confidence being a feast for the eyes (and the soul). But we cannot minimise the political importance of Mama Ru’s creation. Who could forget numbers such as “Shady Politics”; the discussions of gay conversion therapy while applying make-up; and Bob the Drag Queen describing his arrest during a 2011 marriage equality protest? Not to mention Nancy Pelosi sashaying into the All Stars season…
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When the arch of the rainbow actually casts a shadow on you.
How can you put the spotlight on intersectionality to remind others that, even within the LGBTQ+ community, not everyone is treated equal?
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The Conversations That We’re Forgetting to Have
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Three years on, the UK Government is still ‘’dragging its feet’’ about banning gay conversion therapy.
Following on from my colleague Sameena Munir’s blog ‘’pray the gay away: cull conversion therapy worldwide’’, the issue of gay conversion therapy dominates contemporary conversations surrounding LGBT politics and legislation in the UK, but the Government has failed to deliver on its promise to ban it.
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For two weeks during Pride month, Kingsley Napley are publishing a series of blogs to celebrate Pride and highlight LGBTQ+ issues from home and abroad.
It’s been 9 years since R&B artist Frank Ocean headed off rumours about his particular pronoun usage in the album Channel Orange by posting on Tumblr that his first love had been a man. Since then, the momentum for the openness and success of queer artists has continued to gather pace, and LGBTQ+ representation in the arts and mainstream media is as wide as it has ever been. This rise has however raised important questions about pigeonholing queer artists, and perhaps most interestingly whether they must always shoulder the responsibility of ‘pushing the agenda’.
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In February this year, I attended a virtual talk held by the InterLaw Diversity Forum for LGBT+ History Month. The speakers featured individuals working in the legal sector and each discussed their experience of coming out as trans or non-binary at work. It feels an apt lesson given this year’s Pride theme: Visibility, Unity and Equality.
Things not to say to same-sex parents
In January 2020, I was fortunate enough to give birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy. As far as I know, I am the first partner at Kingsley Napley (although certainly not the first employee) who has a baby who is lucky enough to have two mums. News of my pregnancy was met with overwhelming support from my colleagues. That support continues to this very day, and my wife and I remain truly grateful for the kindness that has been shown to us. However, since falling pregnant I have learnt that not all workplaces are as supportive to same-sex parents as mine. The concept of two mums or two dads starting a family is something that some people still struggle to get their heads around. So this year, for our KN Pride blog series, I have decided to explain the questions, that speaking from my own experience, it is not helpful to say to same-sex parents.
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Satvir Sokhi was recently invited to speak and take part in Leeds Beckett University’s Law Enrichment session which allowed a panel of ethnically diverse professionals to speak to students about our experiences with diversity and inclusion within the legal sector.
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There are various drivers forcing law firms to embrace a more diverse workforce and to attract, promote and retain talent from all backgrounds, regardless of gender, gender-identity, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age, and socio-economic class (to name but a few).
IWD: The right to walk alone without fear – what I and other men need to be doing
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#ChooseToChallenge this International Women’s Day
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Today will see the start of the UK’s first Race Equality Week (an initiative “to unite organisations and individuals in activity to address issues affecting ethnic minority employees”). Whilst initiatives like this and, indeed, the UK’s first ever Ethnicity Pay Gap Day (8 January 2021) are very welcome and a cause for celebration and hope in relation to such matters, there is much work yet to be done on the issue of race equality and we cannot afford to be complacent. The ethnicity pay gap is one aspect of this that still needs to be addressed, despite the recent publicity around it and the increasing pressure on Government to take action.
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