“Married to Medicine” star Dr. Jacqueline “Jackie” Walters is in the hot seat after controversial comments are coming back to bite her—hard! An old YouTube Live clip of a conversation Walters had has been making the rounds and it captures well-known OBGYN accusing pregnant Black women of being “dramatic” about their health concerns to get a day off work.
“Sometimes, as African American women, we’re a bit more dramatic and that you go to the doctor and you complain, and you complain, and you complain, and you’re not taken seriously because you cry wolf the entire pregnancy,” Walters said in the clip. “We wanna also make sure that you’re being serious with your doctor and not playing the games so that could take you off work. Because then we see you 25 times in the pregnancy, it’s hard to believe there’s a true problem when there’s a true problem.”
In context, the comments were even more confusing considering Dr. Jackie’s recent chat with Vice President Kamala Harris, discussing the urgency of the Black maternal health crisis in the United States.
According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, citing disparities in the quality of healthcare, structural racism and implicit bias as the underlying causes. Black women consistently report having their concerns dismissed by doctors, which can have dangerous and sometimes fatal consequences.
And social media did not waste time calling Dr. Jackie out for her irresponsible and unfounded comments.
“This is disgusting but I’m not surprised. That type of commentary is why patients are afraid to speak up when something is wrong. It’s also disgusting seeing people in the comments justify what she said because of her title,” read one post on X.
Another commentator on Instagram added, “5 years you’ve been my obgyn! I am DISGUSTED & hurt. I will call first thing in the morning to cancel any future appointments. What you said is DANGEROUS!”
At The Root, we’ve covered the Black maternal health crisis extensively, including hosting a panel of medical experts and healthcare advocates to discuss reproductive justice at this year’s Root Institute.
Let’s hope Dr. Jackie reads the comments and decides to be part of the solution rather than exacerbating the problem.