Exclusive

New Amsterdam Confronts Racial Bias For Expectant Mothers in This Sneak Peek

In this exclusive preview from tonight, April 20's episode of New Amsterdam, Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) is forced to come to terms with the racial inequity of medical care.

By Samantha Bergeson Apr 20, 2021 8:30 PMTags

Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold) is forced to confront racial inequities for mothers in tonight's timely New Amsterdam episode.

In an exclusive sneak peek, Max checks in on expecting patient Evelyn Davis (Victoire Charles), who asks if the hospital will support her birth plan. 

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure you have a great birthing experience," Max assures her. 

"How very political of you," Evelyn counters.

While Max explains possible delivery complications, Evelyn recalls giving birth to her first son. "People were just doing things to me, to my body, without asking me," she explains, calling the whole experience "a nightmare." 

Max realizes the racial bias in maternity wards, and admits that Black and Latina mothers "tend to have lower feedbacks."

Evelyn prompts Max to acknowledge him to ask why: "None of which has anything to do with our beautiful skin, just how we're treated in it," she states.

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The episode "Catch" was written by Erika Green, and inspired by her research of the VBAC calculator which uses race to determine successful birthing outcomes.

NBC

"When I began working on this episode, the things I wanted to focus on were the overmedicalization of birth in general and the horrendous birthing outcomes for Black and Brown women," Green exclusively revealed to E! News ahead of the episode. "With all of these processes and instruments and safeguards in place, why are they dying in higher numbers regardless of economic status? The elephant in the room is racism."

The episode hopefully will inform audiences of this epidemic and medical injustice. "This episode was a call to look at the patient in their totality and to not just rely on a handy signifier that paints this overly broad brush," Green concluded.

Check out the enduring clip above, and watch an all-new episode of New Amsterdam tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC. Catch up on the season anytime on Peacock

(E!, NBC and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)

Peacock is live now! Check out NBCU's streaming service here.