On December 20, Dr. Susan Moore, a Black physician, died due to COVID-19 complications at an Indiana hospital. Her unfortunate passing comes a little over two weeks after she posted a video saying she was mistreated by hospital staff.
She had been quite candid about her diagnosis on Facebook, writing that she was diagnosed with COVID-19 on November 29. In a post, Dr. Moore said she had to “beg” for the CT scan, which ultimately revealed that her lymph nodes were enlarged and fluid in her lungs. Her post also said that she urged the doctor to give her Remdesivir to accelerate the recovery time for COVID-19 after being told she “did not qualify” for the medicine after she’d received two treatments. She requested to speak with the chief medical officer writing, “He assures me that all my concerns will be addressed and that he will personally see that I get the best care possible.”
In the video she posted on December 4, Dr. Moore said, “I don’t trust this hospital and I’m asking to be transferred,” after the doctor attempted to release her despite her having pulmonary infiltration. She then said she was denied narcotic pain medication and claimed the doctor was trying to release her at 10 pm that night. “Who does that?,” she asked.
Dr. Moore implied that the incident was related to her being a Black woman. She said that the doctor was white and that the nurse told her she “was marching in Black Lives Matter” as a rebuttal to her accusation of racist practices. “This is how black people get killed when you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves,” Moore said tearfully, as she continued to raise awareness surrounding what she believed to be medical racism.
Moore’s death has shocked the Black medical community, causing members to speak out on social media. Dr. Cаrmen Brown tweeted, “We lost аnother doctor todаy to COVID. But this doctor wаs mistreаted,” she wrote. Her symptoms were ignored, downplаyed аnd dismissed. She posted а heаrtbreаking video begging her fellow doctors to help sаve her…She cаlled the pаtient аdvocаte…She cаlled the chief medicаl officer.”
Brown’s next tweet read, “She wаs in pаin аnd ignored. Fellow docs got her into аnother hospitаl… It wаs too lаte. She passed away todаy. The system fаiled her. It fаiled us. Anyone wаnt to guess the rаce of this doctor?”
Moore was adamant in her video that she was a victim of the neglect Black women face in hospitals saying, “Being black up in here, this is what happens.”