Healy had been on the pitch seven minutes when he cancelled out Mark Gower's first half goal for fellow strugglers Southend.
And Leeds might have grabbed a priceless win had they been awarded a late penalty.
Leeds' striker Tresor Kandol headed wide with the goal at his mercy and Blues' Jamal Campbell-Ryce stabbed the ball wide when it was easier to score.
But Southend opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Lubomir Michalik mis-kicked the ball and it fell to Lee Bradbury. He squared to an unmarked Gower on the right, who drilled the ball past Casper Ankergren.
Minutes later Freddy Eastwood could have made it 2-0 but he saw his shot rebound off the foot of Ankergren's left post.
Leeds hit back with a Robbie Blake free-kick going inches wide and Richard Cresswell seeing Darryl Flahavan save his low shot.
Leeds started the second half brighter with Matt Heath's header from Radostin Kishishev's free-kick turned out for a corner by Flahavan.
The keeper then parried Blake's 25-yard free-kick before Eastwood saw his shot deflected on to the roof of Ankergren's net.
Leeds boss Dennis Wise brought on Ian Moore and the substitution sparked chants of "Wise out" from the 2,105 travelling fans.
Southend saw several promising attacks were thwarted by an offside flag, but Richie Foran got a shot away only to see it deflect off Heath.
Leeds got on terms when they won a free-kick on the right. Robbie Elliott found substitute Healy and he rifled the ball into the centre of the net.
But the late drama was not over as Leeds should have won a penalty in stoppage time when Simon Francis handled. Referee Nigel Miller awarded a free-kick and Wise and assistant Gus Poyet were on the pitch protesting.