Dr. Susan Moore passed away on December 20 due to complications from COVID-19, her son told the New York Times. The intern died about two weeks after she shared a video accusing a doctor at Indiana University Health North Hospital (IU North) of ignoring her grievances and drug requests because she was black, even though she was both a patient and a doctor herself.
In a video posted earlier this month, she was filmed from a hospital bed and recounted her experience at IU North. Moore said her doctor eliminated her symptoms, telling her, “You’re not even short of breath.”
“Yes, I am,” Moore said in a video he shared on Facebook on December 4th.
She had to beg to receive remdesivir, she recalled in the video, the antiviral drug used to treat patients who are hospitalized for COVID-19 and who do not need mechanical ventilation.
And despite her pain, the doctor told Moore he could send her home, she said, and he didn’t feel comfortable giving her more narcotics.
“It made me feel addicted to drugs,” she said in the video. – And he knew I was a doctor.
Moore also posted updates on her Facebook page along with the video.
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Moore, who was an internist, said her pain was “treated appropriately” only after she expressed concern about her treatment. She was later discharged from IU North, but returned to another hospital less than 12 hours later, she wrote on her Facebook page.
“I presented and I argue that if I were white, I shouldn’t go through this,” Moore said.
An IU North spokesman confirmed CNN that Moore was a patient at the hospital and was eventually discharged, but declined to say more about her, citing the patient’s privacy.
“Being an organization dedicated to equity and reducing racial disparities in healthcare, we take allegations of discrimination very seriously and investigate every allegation,” the spokesman said.
In a statement issued Thursday, Dennis M. Murphy, president and CEO of Indiana University Health, defended the technical aspects of the treatment Moore received, while acknowledging “that he may not have shown the level of compassion and respect for which we strive to understand what matters most to patients. “
He also called for an external review of the case.
Racism in health care is nothing new
Moore’s story is about a broader issue of what experts call the implicit racial bias in health care for black patients. Studies have shown that black patients are prescribed, in some cases, fewer pain medications than their white counterparts. And a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine attributed partial treatment to “lasting racist cultural beliefs and practices.”
The article cited a 2016 study that found that half of white medical students and residents “had unfounded beliefs about the intrinsic biological differences between blacks and whites,” falsely believing that the pain of black patients is less severe than that of patients. white.
“Accepting this unfair treatment as ‘normal’ is historically ingrained and supported by the belief that people of color are intrinsically prone to disease and, implicitly or explicitly, do not deserve high-quality care,” the authors of the New England Journal of wrote an article about medicine, comparing the problem of racism in medicine with racism in the police.
Racial disparities in medical treatment were further highlighted by COVID-19, which has a disproportionate impact on communities of color.
For a “majority of physicians, predominantly white in the United States, the perception is that African Americans don’t need that much for pain,” said Dr. Ala Stanford, pediatric surgeon and founder of Black Doctors COVID-19. Consortium.
Moore leaves behind her 19-year-old son, Henry Muhammed, and her elderly parents, both of whom have dementia, according to a GoFundMe set up on their behalf.
According to the New York Times, Moore’s family said he was born in Jamaica and grew up in Michigan before studying engineering at Kettering University. He then earned a medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School, the Times reported. The GoFundMe page describes her as someone who enjoyed practicing medicine and was proud to be a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
CNN contacted Moore’s family for further comments. Her son told the New York Times that she is able to advocate for herself in hospitals, where she often received treatment for sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that affects the lungs.
“Almost every time she went to the hospital she had to plead for herself, to fight for something in one way or another, just to get the initial and proper care,” he told the Times.
“This is how black people are killed,” Moore said in the video, “when you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves.”
Stanford admitted that Moore was not her patient and did not know the situation at the hospital where she received treatment. But he felt that Moore’s need to repeatedly plead for his own care was “unacceptable.”
In addition, Moore’s decision to seek pain medication was not only to relieve his pain, Stanford said, but would also support his recovery, making it easier for him to breathe. And Moore’s application for an antiviral is now part of the standard treatment for COVID-19, Stanford added.
“It’s just basic,” Stanford said. “This is standard for what you get. I know that from caring for enough people with coronavirus in the hospital and helping them get through it.”
“She is me and we are her”
Moore passed the first positive test for COVID-19 on November 29, according to his Facebook post. Until December 4, she was hospitalized at IU North in Carmel, Indiana. Only after a CT scan showed new lymphadenopathy – a disease in which the lymph nodes enlarge – did the hospital agree to treat her pain, she said.
“You have to show proof that you have something wrong for you to receive the medicine,” she said in the video.
Dr. Stanford said lymphadenopathy would indicate that “the disease process was going on for a while” and that Moore’s body was fighting the disease.
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According to his Facebook posts, Moore finally managed to talk to IU Healthcare’s chief physician, who said he would make sure he received the best care. He also told her that diversity training would take place.
On December 7, the hospital discharged Moore and sent her home after she was posted on Facebook. But less than 12 hours later, she was sent to another hospital due to fever and low blood pressure, according to the Facebook post. Moore said he was receiving treatment for bacterial pneumonia and COVID pneumonia. She described the care at the second hospital as “very compassionate”.
The next day, Moore wrote that she had been transferred to the ICU. It was the last update posted on her Facebook page.
Her story resulted in an outpouring of generosity from people who heard her, and the GoFundMe page raised more than $ 100,000 starting Thursday night.
Dr. Alicia Sanders, another doctor who first came in contact with Moore after seeing his video, helped top the page to raise funds for her family, including sending Muhammed back to school at Indiana University. Sanders said the reason he first came in contact with Moore was “insane.”
“She’s me,” said Sanders, who is also black. “She’s me and we’re her. It could have happened to any of us.”
Stanford – who told CNN he acknowledged the implicit prejudices and racism in medicine but chose to try to change things in the health care system – recalled that comment. She told CNN that when she first found out about Moore’s story, it stopped her and brought tears to her eyes.
He shared it with a group of friends – all black surgeons across the country. They could all relate, Stanford said, after experiencing the same treatment despite their expertise.
“We all have stories,” she said.
“If any of us get sick, please don’t be silent. Be vigilant, be present, be public,” Stanford wrote, adding about Moore, “She was one of us.”
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The video in the above player comes from a previous report.