Source: Susan Moore / facebook
Dr. Susan Moore, a black physician who documented the health care abuse she suffered following her COVID-19 diagnoses, has died at the age of 52. In her honor, fellow doctors have improved Moore’s name online and are making efforts to continue the ongoing conversations about how to systematically combat racism against black women, particularly in healthcare.
Throughout the month of December, Moore had publicly shared both the progress and pitfalls of her experience with the virus while being treated in the Indiana University Health hospital system. In a video she posted to Facebook from the facility on Dec. 4, Moore expressed her frustration with her doctor and healthcare team, saying, “Now, that’s not how you treat patients, period. I do not trust this hospital and I am requesting a transfer. “
She said she felt like the hospital was trying to discharge her without fully treating her condition, saying, “These people wanted to send me home with new lung infiltrates and all kinds of lymphadenopathy in my neck.” She added that her doctor, Dr. Bannec, told her, “If I stayed, he would send me home in the dark at 10pm on Saturday. Who does that? ”She asked.
Meanwhile, one of Moore’s nurses, seemingly trying to dismiss all allegations of racial discrimination, said to her, “I marched into Black Lives Matter,” to which Moore replied, “No, I don’t believe any of that, not one iota … you wouldn’t even know how to march, [you] probably can’t even spell it. “
Later, in the heartbreaking clip, Moore said, “This is how black people are killed, if you send them home and they don’t know how to fight for themselves. I needed to talk to someone, maybe the media, someone. To let people know how I am being treated in this place, “
During her hospital stay, Moore said she had to “beg” for chest X-rays and CT scans, that she was told she was not a candidate for Remdesivir (a drug that would shorten the virus’s recovery time), and she got no pain. medicines.
“All I can do is cry, I was in so much pain,” she said. “He (Dr. Bannec) said you can just go home now…. Why do I have to prove something is wrong with me to treat my pain? “
In an Instagram post in memory of Moore, the medical professional and OBGYN Charis Chambers summed up Moore’s untimely death, saying, “She was fired home and had to be re-hospitalized less than 12 hours later. She did not trust the previous hospital team as to how they treated her, so she went to another hospital. Once she got there, she got much better care, but it was too late … This is unacceptable. This is heartbreaking. This has to stop. “
Using social media as a resource, just as Moore did to share her experiences, more health professionals have spoken out in the wake of this tragedy. Dr. Carmen Brown tweeted, “She had to plead for herself and was STILL ignored. Do you see how scary this is for people who don’t have a voice ???”
Dr. Vidya Kumar Ramanathan tweeted: “So very sad to see this. Dr. Moore was in my medical school class. She was kind, hardworking, brilliant and generous. Really saddened by this. “
Moore was the sole caregiver for her 19-year-old son and her two parents, both of whom have dementia. You can support GoFundMe’s setup to meet their needs here.