Death of Black doctor of COVID-19 sets off alarms
By Lauren Victoria Burke
NNPA Newswire Correspondent
“He made me feel like a drug addict,” Dr. Susan Moore, 52, said on a video days before her death on Dec. 22 due to coronavirus. The Black Indiana doctor states on a Facebook video that she had received poor treatment from White caregivers because she was African American. Her message reached over a million people on social media four days after her death.
“This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves,” Moore said on the video. Moore asserted that her doctor attempted to discharge her at 10 at night.
Moore’s Facebook live post received wide attention and a lengthy segment on Roland Martin Unfiltered on Dec. 23. Dr. Moore knew what to ask for as she was being treated for coronavirus and strongly felt she was not receiving the best treatment.
Moore said that despite telling her doctor that she was in pain she received medication after tests proved what she had been saying since she arrived at the hospital.
“I put forth, and I maintain, if I was White, I wouldn’t have to go through that,” Moore said in her social media video.
On Dec. 24, The Grio reported that Indiana University Health Hospital, “addressed claims of mistreatment in how Dr. Susan Moore was treated in the days before her death.”
Indiana University Health Hospital, in a statement said, “We are very sad to hear about her passing,” adding, “IU Health respects and upholds patient privacy and cannot comment on a specific patient, their medical history or conditions. As an organization committed to equity and reducing racial disparities in healthcare. We take accusations of discrimination very seriously and investigate every allegation.”
Black people have died at 3.6 times the rate of White people, and Latinos at 2.5 times the rate of White people, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. Moore cared for her mother, who has dementia, and her 19-year old son. A GoFundMe page is hoping to raise $100,000 to assist the Moore family. It has raised over $109,000 so as of the final week of December.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the U.S. hard and has now become the most deadly event in U.S. history since the Civil War. Over 327,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in 2020. An average of 2,000 people are dying a day in the U.S. due to coronavirus.
