When Alarms Are Silenced: Black Maternal Mortality And Kira Johnson’s Story
“Sunshine personified,” is how Charles Johnson IV describes his wife, Kira. 1
“We’re talking about a woman that raced cars, that ran marathons. She spoke five languages fluently. She was a skydiver. She had her pilot’s license. Everything she put her mind to, she did. She had this incredible infectious energy. She walked into a room and she would light it up. Yea, she’s just my earth angel. We just really were in such an amazingly happy place. We had grand plans of just raising kids that would change the world.” As Charles reflects on being first-time parents to their son Charles Johnson V, he explains, “We enjoyed it. It was a really, really cool time for us.” 2
In April of 2016, Kira was in perfect health and had experienced a textbook pregnancy as she prepared to deliver their second child. Doctors recommended a cesarean section since that is what she had the first time around. Shortly after Kira and Charles’ son Langston was born, Kira began experiencing complications. Charles noticed that the fluid in her catheter was turning pink, indicative of blood being present. This was around 4pm and doctors stated that they would perform a CT scan. By 7pm, Kira was shivering uncontrollably, and ultrasounds showed that her abdomen was filling with fluid. Her CT scan had not been done yet. Increasingly concerned about his wife, Charles approached a nurse about Kira’s condition to ask for help and recalls being told, “Sir, your wife just isn’t a priority right now.” It was not until midnight that doctors took Kira in for surgery. The last thing Kira said to Charles was, “Baby I’m scared.” Having known Kira to be fearless, this was not a sentiment she had ever expressed or showed to him before. 3
Harvard medical professor and obstetrician Dr. Neel Shah went so far as to state that doctors and medical professionals, “believe Black women less when they express the symptoms they are having, particularly around pain.”4 Kira, as a Black woman, was three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications.5
Kira’s story is far more common than it should be, highlighting the issue of maternal mortality in the United States. A recent study using data pulled from The Commonwealth Fund’s 2020 International Health Policy Survey and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed that the United States has the “highest rates of preventable and maternal mortality when compared with women in 10 other wealthy nations.” Included in the study were Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Researchers noted that with 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, the maternal mortality statistics for the United States were “more than triple the rate of any other country studied.” Furthermore, “when looking only at Black maternal mortality, the rate jumped to 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.” 4
The disproportionate impact of the maternal mortality crisis is staggering. Harvard medical professor and obstetrician Dr. Neel Shah went so far as to state that doctors and medical professionals, “believe Black women less when they express the symptoms they are having, particularly around pain.”5 Kira, as a Black woman, was three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications.6 Black women are also often less likely to give birth in the safest hospitals–23% of Black women as compared to 63% of white women, according to one study.7 Moreover, researchers have found that higher socioeconomic status and wealth are not necessarily protective factors for Black women. “Maternal mortality rates were just as high among the highest-income Black women as among low-income white women.”8
By the time doctors took Kira into surgery, there were three and a half liters of blood in her abdomen. She coded and died immediately in the early hours of April 13, 2016. With anguish, Charles recounts that Kira bled internally for more than 10 hours while he and other loved ones “begged and pleaded for somebody to do something.” Seven years later, the pain of Kira’s likely preventable loss is still palpable. Charles is a single father to their sons Charles V and Langston. He is also a fierce advocate and founder of 4Kira4Moms–a nonprofit on a mission to eradicate maternal mortality. 9
“Kira deserved so much better.”10
1 Pahr, Kristi. Charles Johnson’s Loss Launched a Maternal Health Revolution. Parents. Updated March 24, 2023 https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/stories/my-wifes-legacy-gives-a-voice-to-the-voiceless-charles-johnsons-loss-launched-a-maternal-health-revolution/
2 Charles Johnson’s Loss
3 Charles Johnson’s Loss
4 Study of Wealthy Nations, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/nov/maternal-mortality-maternity-care-us-compared-10-countries
5 CBS Sunday Morning. At Risk: Mothers and Childbirth. August 5, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47m9P7eqv44
6 Howard, Jacqueline. Childbirth is Killing Black Women: ‘This is a National Problem. CNN Health. November 15, 2017. https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/15/health/black-women-maternal-mortality/index.html
7 Childbirth is Killing
8 Miller, Claire Cain, Kliff, Sarah and Buchanan, Larry. Childbirth is Deadlier for Black Families Even When They’re Rich, Expansive Study Finds. The New York Times. February 12, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/12/upshot/child-maternal-mortality-rich-poor.html
9 Charles Johnson’s Loss
10 Charles Johnson’s Loss