Where to Watch The Deadliest Disease in America (2010)

Summary

The film traces the history of racism in American healthcare, beginning with the brutal medical experimentation that slaves were forced to undergo. As this story unfolds over our nation’s history, the very same inequalities and biases continue to plague our healthcare system, creating disparities in the quality of care that Black and Brown people are afforded. Interwoven with the testimonies of experts and medical practitioners are the personal stories of patients who have been victimized by healthcare inequities, including the filmmaker’s own experiences as a quadriplegic African American woman. The COVID-19 pandemic is an exclamation point calling attention to these existing disparities, as we have witnessed communities of color experience disproportionately high rates of infection, staggering losses of life, and increased economic hardship.