‘Aftershock’ humanizes America’s maternal mortality crisis by following families left behind – Contenders Documentary

When a woman dies as a result of childbirth, she leaves her loved ones to grapple with the loss. aftershocksa documentary from Disney’s Onyx Collective, draws attention to America’s maternal mortality crisis by focusing on the deaths of two women and the family members they left behind.

“Often people hear about issues like maternal mortality and disease and all they see are numbers,” said filmmaker Tonya Lewis Lee during a panel discussion at the Deadline Contenders Film: Documentary Awards Season Event.

Lewis Lee directed and produced the film with Paula Eiselt. After deciding to make the documentary together, they looked for a way to humanize the story with the goal of changing the way we look at the subject.

“We both felt it was important to tell this story through people’s experiences,” said Lewis Lee.

aftershocks revolves around Shamony Gibson (30) and Amber Rose Isaac (26), two young women who died from birth complications.

Gibson gave birth to a son by caesarean section. After raising concerns with doctors about her deteriorating health, she was told not to worry and died within two weeks. Isaac died as a result of a caesarean section.

Among developed countries, maternal mortality in the US is particularly high, and Eiselt noted that one of the contributing factors is that country’s reliance on cesarean births.

“We have a very high rate of cesarean births, and that’s encouraged by insurance companies paying more for those cesarean births, so doctors aren’t motivated to actually give women time to give birth naturally,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 700 women die each year in the United States from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. A disproportionate number of these women are black.

“Women, and especially black women, are no more seen and heard than anyone else,” said Eiselt. “You don’t trust them. If they say something is wrong, they get fired and that just perpetuates a system of powerlessness within the system and that’s why we have the rates we have.

Check back Wednesday for the panel video.