Letter Sent to Dr. Michelle Yvette Francis
Copy of Letter sent via email and fax to Mount Sinai OB/GYN practice: 50 W 77th St, New York, NY 10024 | westmed77thdoc@mountsinai.org
January 5, 2022 at 1:59pm EST (small typos have been revised)
Please Sign My Petition: https://chng.it/Cv27KJZY
Dear Dr. Michelle Y. Francis:
It has been my experience and observation that it is challenging for women, particularly women of color, to find health care practices where they are treated with respect and where their concerns are taken seriously. Sadly this dynamic persists regardless of socioeconomic status, an example is Serena William’s widely known post-partum near death experience in a hospital. When I was referred to you by A — — S — - I was hopeful, she speaks highly of you. I also had a very positive first impression when I scheduled an annual exam with you prior to the pandemic and since that time, I have referred other prospective patients.
My experience at my last annual examination on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at 1:00 pm was a deviation, I noticed a sharp change in your overall demeanor from what I recall and am very alarmed by the experience. I am bringing the concern to you directly and pray that it was a misunderstanding such that all parties involved are edified.
At the time of my visit you entered the room without speaking, I proceeded to greet you and ask how you were doing to which you sarcastically replied that you were great “everything is rainbows and unicorns”. I immediately picked up on the sardonicism and tried to use humor to lighten the mood by saying that the last time I saw you it was before the world ended, I added to my statement that the rapture occurred and we were left behind, you laughed and I thought it would be smooth sailing from there. We then discussed how we both had advanced warnings about COVID from contacts in Asia before the virus exploded in the USA.
Through our exchange I explained that it was by chance that my sister was living in Korea at the time as an English teacher. You then asked me “Is your sister Black?” I replied “Yes we have the same parents, I am Black and so is she.” She was the only Black person in the cohort of teachers that went to Korea through the private school that hired her and also the only American fluent in Korean from her cohort. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland and was a double major, French and Education. She has a gift for learning foreign languages and is celebrated in our Black Afro Caribbean family (by way of Jamaica).
Please help me understand why would my sister not be Black? Are you any more or less Black for being a physician? Am I myself more or less Black for being an investment banking executive? If an Anglo American doctor asked me the same question in this context and I reported it to patient relations or posted it on social media, in our current climate, how might Mount Sinai interpret and respond to that exchange? To what avail was the toil, suffering, and struggle of our ancestors if in the 21st Century we do not use freedom to pursue our own happiness in this country or abroad? How dismaying is it to consider that we may never actually be free from captivity if we ourselves remain in psychological bondage by the way we choose to relate to ourselves and others that share our likeness? What good is it to take to the streets and demand the entire world pause to acknowledge that “Black Lives Matter” if we do not handle one another with care and concern privately?
The topic of fibroids came up and I mentioned that many women in my family suffer from fibroids, but fortunately I do not have symptoms. I anecdotally mentioned that I heard there could be a link between chemical relaxers and fibroids, before I could take a breath the appointment took a frightening turn. You exclaimed that it was not true and how you are tired of all the woman bashing that has occurred since the beginning of the pandemic and that this is an example of blaming the victim. You also went on to talk about internalized misogyny and how women do just as much harm as men.
I calmly asked “Is this the first time that you are hearing this?” You replied, “Yes”. I then said “Ok just so you are aware that is what is being said out there in the stratosphere.” You then noted that it could be positive if it prevents Black Women from potentially damaging their hair.
You said “You are more at risk for developing fibroids simply because you are Black!” without any reasoning why or attention to the fact that many women in my family have suffered as a result of them.
Please help me understand how communicating my family history and mentioning a theory that has been proliferated by the American Journal of Epidemiology, sited broadly in publications marketed to Black women such as Essence Magazine, and co-signed by other physicians with the same credentials as you is me blaming the victim or exercising some type of internalized misogyny? I never declared it to be true, but if we cannot discuss these matters calmly in an OB/GYN office, then where else should I be having this conversation?
If there is a theory out there that Black women have been marketed products that have endocrine disruptive substances, how is that blaming the victim? If anything, it highlights why we need more evangelists to encourage preventive care in our communities and those persons are likely to be more successful if Black women feel safe seeking the care they need.
In fairness to you I am conscious and fully aware that there are many changes happening within the medical insurance industry that impact physicians. My heart breaks for the many good natured physicians that are suffering from COVID fatigue and burn out, however I feel tremendously dishonored as a patient and as a woman of color who believed in you.
I come from a culture where I am considered “old” to be without children and when I raised the question about whether or not I should be concerned about fertility, you shot back questioning me “Are you trying to get pregnant?” when throughout the entire appointment I had made it clear that I was not sexually active or trying to get pregnant. This is a legitimate concern, every educated woman in my family was told they “had time”. Unfortunately, when they either met their husbands in their late 30s and/or early 40s they were met with shrugs from the medical community after recurring miscarriages and a litany of fertility issues. The “time” they were led to believe they had never materialized. Why did you not at least walk me through options I could consider in 3–5 years? My concern was completely dismissed nevermind the fact that if I or women in my family went around having recurring unplanned pregnancies we would be stigmatized. Furthermore, it has been purported by the media that even if I was already married and trying to get pregnant that I am more likely to die on the table having a baby “simply because I am Black”. Please correct if I am wrong but this is starting to look like an unfairly stacked lose lose scenario for Black women. I am bad for going to the doctor and raising concerns, bad if I do not go to the doctor, bad if get an education and struggle to have children later in life, bad if I had become a unwed mother as a teen or young adult, bad if I creep over a size 12, bad if I stand up for myself, bad if I choose the wrong partner when we have so many great options these days, bad if I never have a long term partner at all. Please inform me when are Black women going to stop being bad and wrong for merely existing?
I understand that we may all have bad days, but in an area of medicine that has such a gory, sinister, and controversial history involving Black women (i.e. J Marion Sims). Please keep in mind that the women of color that come to you are likely coming to seek a safe space and because of your temperament and demeanor during my last annual visit I did not feel safe. I feel minimized and further discouraged from continuing to seek out annual healthcare exams unless I am facing a life or death medical emergency.
I feel devalued as paying patient and mishandled in an environment where I thought there was a possibility of refuge.
I initially called your office to address this matter and was given the Mount Sinai patient relations information and further inquired about how I could contact you directly first to resolve this before using any other channel and the operator recommended I use My Chart to reach you, hence this note. I sincerely hope this is a major misunderstanding and that we can find common ground through respectful dialogue.
I may be contacted at the above address and phone number.
Sincerely,
Roslyn J.Smith
Please Sign My Petition: https://chng.it/Cv27KJZY
Listen to Audio of Mount Sinai (Erica Rubinstein, VP Patient Experience) trying to convince me to do a case study after being humiliated and discarded by my physician: https://youtu.be/vesdfNDGO48
