Although the Tuskegee Syphilis Study is one of the best-known examples of race-based medical malpractice, there are others.

Throughout the 20th century, many Black women were subject to eugenics laws that forcibly sterilized them. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells were harvested and studied without her knowledge or consent.

Today, some Black women specifically seek out Black obstetricians to avoid racial discrimination in medical care and improve their health outcomes. This history of mistrust provides the context for Black Americans’ beliefs about the health care system and medical research.

A 2022 Pew Research Center report found mixed results in how Black adults assessed their experiences with health care. While nearly half (47%) said health outcomes for Black people have improved over the last 20 years, sizable minorities said they have stayed the same (31%) or gotten worse (20%).

And the majority of Black Americans (55%) said they have had negative experiences with doctors, including having to speak up to get proper care and feeling like the pain they were experiencing was not taken seriously.

In the current survey, 51% of Black Americans say the U.S. health care system was designed to hold Black people back a great deal or fair amount. Another 28% say it was designed to hold Black people back some, and 19% say not too much or not at all.

Black adults differ significantly on this question by gender. Indeed, Black women (58%) are more likely than Black men (44%) to say the health care system was designed to hold Black people back. But Black women under 50 (61%) are much more likely to say this than older Black women (54%) and all men regardless of age (44%). These patterns are like those in the 2022 study, which found that Black women (particularly those under 50) were significantly more likely than Black men to report negative experiences in health care. This includes not having their women’s health concerns taken seriously.

Read the full article about Black Americans mistrust of the health care system by Kiana Cox at Pew Research Center.