“I have seen my children of color misdiagnosed, sometimes to the point of jeopardizing their health,” Jolie wrote.
Angelina Jolie has spoken out about racial disparities in the healthcare profession.
In an editorial article published in the American Journal of Nursing on Wednesday (July 5), the 48-year-old actress emphasized the importance of technology that identifies bruises on dark skin in victims of domestic abuse.
The Agent Salt actress opened her post by stating that health clinics “often miss bruises based on race and ethnicity.”
“As a mother of biracial children, I have seen my children of color misdiagnosed in ways that sometimes jeopardize their health,” Jolie wrote.
The star of Maleficent has 6 children, three of them adopted.
Jolie adopted her eldest son Maddox from Cambodia. Her daughter Zahara is Ethiopian and her son Pax is Vietnamese.
In her opinion piece, the famous actress talked about how difficult it is to detect bruises on dark-skinned people without the proper tools.
Sharing a memory of her daughter Zahara, Jolie wrote
“On a personal note, when my Ethiopian daughter Zahara was admitted to the hospital for a medical procedure, the nurse told me to call her if she ‘turned pink around her cuts’.
“I stared blankly at the nurse, not sure she understood what was wrong with what she was saying,” the actress wrote.
When the nurse left the room, I spoke to my daughter and we both knew that we had to watch for signs of infection based on our own knowledge, not on what the nurse said, although she undoubtedly meant well.
Jolie added that although her children “have access to high quality health care, simple diagnoses are missed because of their race and the continued prioritization of white skin in medicine.”
The actress concluded her opinion piece by stating that there is a tremendous need to improve “diversity and representation in medical research and education” and that “the time to embrace new solutions is long overdue.”
