An Indiana doctor died of COVID-19 complications just weeks after he reported racial abuse on behalf of the hospital.
New York Times reports that Dr. Susan Moore, a black doctor, was denied proper care and was diagnosed with pain from her white male doctor while she was hospitalized at Indiana University North Hospital. In a moment viral video posted on Facebook, Moore shared her experience, documenting her positive diagnosis of coronavirus on November 29, premature discharge and possible return to hospital. She mentioned that she had to beg her doctor to treat her with the antiviral drug remdesivir, as well as a CT scan of her neck and chest because of the pain she was feeling. However, the doctor initially refused to do both and instead questioned Moore’s symptoms and suggested she should be discharged. The doctor would eventually be forced, but only after medical tests were discovered did Moore really have new lung infiltrates in his lungs, which warranted the necessary and immediate attention.
“I presented and argued, if I were white, I shouldn’t go through this,” Moore said in her video. “I do not trust this hospital and I am asking to be transferred. These people wanted to send me home with new lung infiltrates and all kinds of lymphadenopathy in my throat. This is how black people are killed. When you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves. I have to talk to someone, maybe to the media, to someone, to tell people how I’m treated in this place. “
Unfortunately for Moore, this was not the first time she had had to be her own health advocate. Nor is it for the first time racial health disparities, especially with regard to them Black and brown communities and coronavirus, have been exposed.
From the New York Times:
She was no stranger to the challenges of receiving adequate medical care, said Mr Muhammed, her 19-year-old son. He had sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that attacks the lungs and was frequently treated in hospitals. “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 said.
Dr. Moore’s case has sparked outrage and renewed calls to fight the biased medical treatment of black patients. Large-scale research suggests that black patients often receive inferior treatment to their white counterparts, especially when it comes to pain relief. “It had a huge impact,” said Dr. Christina Council, a Maryland primary care physician who is black from Dr. Moore’s experience. “Sometimes, when we think about medical prejudices, it seems so distant. We can sit there and say, “OK, it can happen to someone who may be poorer.” But when you see that it’s actually happening to a colleague and you see her in the hospital bed and you are literally pleading for her life, it happens in a different way and she even gets home and says, “Wow, we have to do something.” “
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Prior to Moore’s death, she revealed she expressed concern to the hospital’s chief medical officer, who then promised better care and a new doctor. Although things started to look up, Moore still felt that he was not receiving the best possible care. On December 7, after being discharged, she was hospitalized again in another hospital less than 12 hours later, where she was treated for both bacterial pneumonia and Covid-19 pneumonia. Eventually, she will give up these complications weeks later.
A GoFundMe campaign was created to cover the cost of funeral expenses for Moore’s son and elderly parents suffering from dementia. “Susan was a phenomenal doctor,” the campaign said. “She enjoyed practicing medicine, she enjoyed being a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., she enjoyed helping people, and she was apologetic.”
“This fundraiser is to help her family with immediate needs, which are now housing and food, because she was the only provider for her son and her parents. This page will be updated as more needs arise, including funeral costs, moving expenses, and unforeseen expenses. “