Using a critical biocultural medical anthropological approach, this dissertation explores the systemic neglect of postpartum birthing persons within the U.S. medical system specifically among a population of high-risk obstetric individuals - postpartum birthing parents with infants in long-term neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care. While the effects of NICU hospitalization on infants are well-documented, there is a significant gap in understanding the experiences, health and healthcare needs of postpartum birthing parents, particularly in an urban, quaternary care, children’s hospital Level IV NICU setting. This dissertation investigates how NICU care culture, power dynamics, and maternal lived experiences shape healthcare access, utilization, and mental health outcomes among a cross-sectional sample of parents with infants hospitalized since birth in a children’s hospital Level IV NICU. Extending existing theory, this dissertation introduces the concept of Perinatal Iatrogenesis, an analytic that allowed me to examine how systemic and interpersonal clinical harms persist beyond birth over the entire perinatal period. By combining ethnographic methods with survey data, my dissertation research reveals pathways to perinatal iatrogenesis in the NICU and identifies areas for targeted interventions to improve healthcare in this setting. Ultimately, my research underscores the importance of anthropological methods in hospital-based biomedical research and highlights the unique needs of this often neglected population of perinatal patients.