Black Maternal Health Crisis Hits Home, Mom Injured By UCLA During Childbirth Gets Her Day In Court

LOS ANGELES - Jan. 11, 2023 - PRLog -- After years of silence, Bianca Dickerson Williams -- an L.A. mother who suffered catastrophic life-altering injuries at UCLA Medical Center during the delivery of her second child - - and has been speaking out about her experience in her short film "Black Moms At Risk" The Dark Secret of the U.S. Health system.  Dickerson Williams short film has been nominated and has received numerous awards for the film Black Moms at Risk.  She has been invited to speak before congress and has spoken in- person with members of Congress and at the White House in Washington, D.C. and this week she will finally have her day in court.

7 years ago, she was nearly a statistic.  She was disregarded during and after she gave birth and left UCLA Medical Center with chronic life-long  pain and disfigurement from catastrophic life-altering injuries.  Her medical malpractice, negligence, and fraud case goes to trial this week and she will finally have her day in court.

The trial will be held in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles at 111 N. Hill in Department 89 on the 5th floor.  The judge is Hon. Ruth Ann Kwan. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on January 11th at 8:30 a.m. Ms. Dickerson Williams is represented by the Law offices of Bradley Kramer M.D. Esq.

Dickerson's injuries were so severe that it was three years before she could physically pick up her daughter. She publicly shared details of her traumatic experience in the delivery room and the courtroom in the documentary Bianca's Story: Black Moms At Risk (https://blackmomsatrisk.com/), directed by award-winning filmmaker Christian Cordeaux and Bianca Dickerson, see details below.

"Instead of holding my baby in my arms that day, I was hoping and praying to God that I was going to make it out alive," said Dickerson Williams. "Instead of owning up to their catastrophic mistakes, conducting tests, and finding solutions for the debilitating physical pain they caused, the hospital sent a social worker to evaluate my mental state and ask if I have diapers at home. I felt unheard, ignored, and humiliated."

In 2016, Dickerson Williams filed a lawsuit against The Regents of the University of California, alleging professional negligence, fraud and concealment, and loss of consortium.  The fight for justice is in its seventh year, a waiting game only the hospital has the time and money to play indefinitely.

Dickerson Williams is a married mother of two. She holds a J.D. from Western Michigan University - Thomas M. Cooley Law School and is also certified in electronic evidence discovery. She has spent her career providing consultative subject matter expertise to clients in companies, law firms, and government agencies involved in controlling and mitigating risk, as well as a variety of legal disputes and investigations.

She has also spent years trying to uncover what really happened to her because the injuries were never documented in UCLA's medical records. Abundantly clear is the scope of the national Black maternal health crisis, particularly in California, and how she could just as easily have been a mortality rate statistic:

● African American women are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than any other race in this country. (The Centers for Disease Control)

● Black infants are more than twice as likely to die in their first year than white infants. (US Dept of Health & Social Services)

● Black mothers in California are six times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white women. (CA Dept of Public Health)

Regarding the documentary, Dickerson Williams said, "Although it is still traumatizing to discuss, I feel an obligation to share my story with the world because I feel my life was spared for a reason. Sometimes, even in the most horrific situations, there can be a light. I'm hoping to be that light that saves the life of another African American or Indigenous woman in this country. I hope to be a light that reminds health care professionals to be more careful."

Dickerson Williams sees parallels between the way women of color are treated in the health care system and the terror many African Americans and Latino's feel interacting with law enforcement.

"I relate my experience over and over again to police brutality and an abuse of power by police in that before police wore body cameras, their story was the story.  Prior to body cameras, we were 100% relying on the authenticity and testimony of the police. A doctor or a nurse is no different. The exception though is doctors and nurses are not wearing body cameras," said Dickerson Williams.

In Dickerson Williams' case, neither the injuries that she sustained nor the complications both she and her daughter experienced were ever documented in her records.

"When they take you into the operating room, there are no other eyes witnessing what is or is not happening.  What is, or is not being injected into your body. There is no one else writing down in an operative report or a chart note, what did or did not happen, very similar to a police report. So whatever it is they say happened, that is what happened. And you bear the burden of proving something different. And that for me is not justice. That is a faulty system working against the average human being," concluded Dickerson Williams.

Bianca sat down with filmmaker Christian Cordeaux for the documentary to discuss for the first time her personal story, the ongoing fight for justice and a health care system that is stacked against African American and Indigenous mothers in California and beyond. Now, she will finally be able to use her voice in court.

The 15-minute short documentary film can be viewed at Bianca's Story: Black Moms At Risk (https://youtu.be/VQpAAMcV-L0)



To speak with Bianca Dickerson Williams, please contact Kevin Lampe at kevin@kurthlampe.com 312-617-7280 or Kitty Kurth at kitty@kurthlampe.com 312-617-7288.

Website: BlackMomsAtRisk.com
Email: BlackMomsAtRisk@gmail.com
Twitter: @BlackMomsAtRisk (https://twitter.com/BlackMomsAtRisk)
Facebook: @BlackMomsRisk (https://www.facebook.com/BlackMomsRisk)
Instagram: @BlackMomsAtRis (https://www.instagram.com/blackmomsatrisk/)k (https://www.instagram.com/blackmomsatrisk/)