On December 20, 2020, American physician Susan Grace Moore (born October 2, 1968) died in Carmel, Indiana, from complications related to COVID-19. [1] In the weeks preceding her death, Moore, who was Black, had shared concerns that her symptoms were not being taken seriously by white medical professionals. [2]
Susan Grace Moore was born in Jamaica on October 2, 1968. [1] [3] She had a degree in engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She worked for 3M as an industrial engineer for almost ten years before returning to school. [4] She was a 2002 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. [5] [1] Moore was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. [6] Moore worked as a family physician in Carmel, Indiana. [7] Her close family included her nineteen-year old son, Henry Muhammed, [8] and her elderly parents, both of whom she cared for at the time of her death, since they were living with dementia. [2]
Moore tested positive for COVID-19 on November 29, 2020, and was admitted to IU Health North Hospital for care. [9] On December 4, 2020 she shared a video to Facebook, [2] in which she described how white doctors refused her pain medication, which she said "...made me feel like I was a drug addict". [9] She also recalled begging for treatment with the anti-viral drug remdesivir, used to treat COVID-19 patients not on a ventilator, [10] in addition to begging for a CT scan. [2] She reported that a white doctor said, “You’re not even short of breath”, although she was at the time. [10] In the video she stated that: “I put forth and maintain, if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that .. This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home, and they don’t know how to fight for themselves.” [8]
On December 7, 2020, Moore was discharged from IUHNH. [9]
However just twelve hours later, she was re-admitted to hospital, this time to Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital. There she experienced improved medical treatment, according to her Facebook posts. [9] Her final Facebook post read that she was being transferred to an intensive care unit. [11] On December 10, 2020, she was intubated. [1]
Moore died at Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital in Carmel on December 20, 2020. [8]
Moore's death is viewed by some as an example of medical racism, where her race was a defining factor in how she was perceived and the treatment she was given. [12]
In their statement after Moore's death the African American Policy Forum stated that "systemic forms of racism .. construct a reality wherein women like Dr. Moore can be stereotyped as an addict simply because they request the medication necessary to treat the excruciatingly painful side effects of a lethal disease. Here racism and sexism served to typecast Dr. Moore as someone who could be deemed unruly, intimidating, and untrustworthy at perhaps the most vulnerable moment of her life." [13]
In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when vaccinations began and the history of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was frequently cited as the reason for vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans, Moore was invoked as a counter-example of present-day racism that poses obstacles to accessing health care and erodes trust in it. [14] [15] [16]
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On December 20, 2020, American physician Susan Grace Moore (born October 2, 1968) died in Carmel, Indiana, from complications related to COVID-19. [1] In the weeks preceding her death, Moore, who was Black, had shared concerns that her symptoms were not being taken seriously by white medical professionals. [2]
Susan Grace Moore was born in Jamaica on October 2, 1968. [1] [3] She had a degree in engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She worked for 3M as an industrial engineer for almost ten years before returning to school. [4] She was a 2002 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. [5] [1] Moore was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. [6] Moore worked as a family physician in Carmel, Indiana. [7] Her close family included her nineteen-year old son, Henry Muhammed, [8] and her elderly parents, both of whom she cared for at the time of her death, since they were living with dementia. [2]
Moore tested positive for COVID-19 on November 29, 2020, and was admitted to IU Health North Hospital for care. [9] On December 4, 2020 she shared a video to Facebook, [2] in which she described how white doctors refused her pain medication, which she said "...made me feel like I was a drug addict". [9] She also recalled begging for treatment with the anti-viral drug remdesivir, used to treat COVID-19 patients not on a ventilator, [10] in addition to begging for a CT scan. [2] She reported that a white doctor said, “You’re not even short of breath”, although she was at the time. [10] In the video she stated that: “I put forth and maintain, if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that .. This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home, and they don’t know how to fight for themselves.” [8]
On December 7, 2020, Moore was discharged from IUHNH. [9]
However just twelve hours later, she was re-admitted to hospital, this time to Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital. There she experienced improved medical treatment, according to her Facebook posts. [9] Her final Facebook post read that she was being transferred to an intensive care unit. [11] On December 10, 2020, she was intubated. [1]
Moore died at Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital in Carmel on December 20, 2020. [8]
Moore's death is viewed by some as an example of medical racism, where her race was a defining factor in how she was perceived and the treatment she was given. [12]
In their statement after Moore's death the African American Policy Forum stated that "systemic forms of racism .. construct a reality wherein women like Dr. Moore can be stereotyped as an addict simply because they request the medication necessary to treat the excruciatingly painful side effects of a lethal disease. Here racism and sexism served to typecast Dr. Moore as someone who could be deemed unruly, intimidating, and untrustworthy at perhaps the most vulnerable moment of her life." [13]
In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when vaccinations began and the history of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was frequently cited as the reason for vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans, Moore was invoked as a counter-example of present-day racism that poses obstacles to accessing health care and erodes trust in it. [14] [15] [16]
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cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (
help)